Raad: We Want Lebanon to be Governed by Balance, Partnership
Hizbullah's top lawmaker has stressed the importance of “balance and partnership” in running the country's affairs, a day after Hizbullah's ally the Free Patriotic Movement announced boycotting national dialogue over perceived marginalization of the representatives of Christians in state institutions.
“We want Lebanon to enhance its national unity and we want the Lebanese to unite against the main and existential enemy that is threatening Lebanon's unity and sovereignty,” Raad added during the opening of a park in the southern town of Jarjouaa, referring to Israel.
“We want Lebanon to be governed by balance and partnership among all its components at the level of political decision-making and state institutions,” the head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc added.
Apparently referring to al-Mustaqbal Movement, Raad added that “those boasting about their close relations with the Gulf states must employ these ties to serve the interest, unity and independence of their country instead of relying on their foreign relations to conspire against their partners in the country with the aim of enhancing their influence, domination and monopolization of power.”
“There is a deep rift revolving around these disputes,” Raad went on to say, calling for “an agreement encompassing all the main demands of the Lebanese components in order to achieve political stability in Lebanon.”
The FPM's latest boycott of cabinet meetings was linked to the thorny issue of military and security appointments and the government's decision-taking mechanism in the absence of a president.
The defense minister has recently postponed the retirement of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir after no consensus was reached over three candidates that he had proposed, angering the FPM which says that it opposes term extensions for all senior officers.
Addressing Salam on Friday, FPM chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said “the son of late PM Saeb Salam must pay great attention when he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when it convenes in the presence of ministers representing only six percent of a main component of the country (Christians).”
Bassil has also warned that the country might be soon plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.”
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/215951 |