Hezbollah prefers vacuum than a Lebanese president elected by its rivals

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raad  mohammadHezbollah’s Parliamentary bloc leader  MP Mohammed Raad said  Sunday that his party prefers continued presidential vacuum over the election of a head of state by his rival March 14 alliance which he described as a majority that lacks  a clear vision .

“We prefer vacuum than a president elected by a majority lacking a clear vision for confronting the threats that are facing the country.”

“Betting on the election of a president by a majority lacking a clear vision for confronting the threats that are facing the country will make us lose our entire homeland, even if that happens in a constitutional manner,” Raad warned without elaborating.

“The country is now safeguarded, and we hope a constitutional act will come to preserve the achievements of the resistance fighters and the accomplishments of this country’s people,” he added in reference to his party’s role.

“We are very keen on electing a president for the Lebanese republic as soon as possible, but we don’t tolerate crippling state institutions over the continued disagreement on the president’s affiliation and characteristics,” Raad added, referring to the paralyzed cabinet and parliament.

“We want the cabinet and the parliament to convene, and should we disagree over this necessity we must not disagree over the fact that this country must be for all its sons and that no one in it can eliminate or exclude others,”  he went on to say.

He praised his party’s military interference in Syria:

“Hezbollah made great progress in confronting the takfiris’ threat.”  He said.

“The current action in Syria is aimed at completing what we have already achieved in order to find a political settlement that does not involve the realization of any of these groups’ objectives,” he said.

Raad noted that the current Vienna negotiations over Syria’s crisis “will definitely affect our situation in Lebanon.”But seemed concerned about the results of the talks.

“But with all due honesty, and without any illusions, we do not trust a lot of the parties who are meeting in Vienna … because we cannot be reassured about a party sitting around the negotiations table and, at the same time, supplying the takfiri terrorists with the most modern of weapons,” Raad added in a clear  reference to the US and Saudi Arabia who oppose any future role for Hezbollah’s ally  Syrian president Bashar al Assad .

On Sept 21  Raad said his party is willing to wait a thousand years for the election of a strong president.

 “Whoever wants to buy time to bring us a president who is not strong is wasting the country’s time. We will wait for a thousand years in order to get a president of this type,” said  Raad in reference to Hezbollah candidate MP Michel Aoun.

The Lebanese parliament failed again on October 21  and for the 30th time in a row to elect a president to replace Michel Suleiman whose term ended on May 25 last year.

As in the past sessions the parliament was unable to reach a quorum because the Iranian backed Hezbollah militant group and its ally  Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc MPs boycotted the session.

Speaker Nabih Berri a key ally of Hezbollah postponed the election to November 11, 2015 .

Iran is  being  blamed for the presidential vacuum buy Lebanese  Forces leader Samir Geagea who was the first to announce his presidential candidacy

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