Mashnouq Satisfied with Municipal Polls, Hopes Parliamentary Elections Will be Held next

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq praised on Monday the success of the municipal elections, saying that they demonstrated that the Lebanese people “yearn for a return to state institutions.”

He hoped in a press conference assessing the polls that they would be followed by parliamentary ones.

Mashnouq doubted however that the political powers would be able to agree on a new parliamentary electoral law.

Lebanon on Sunday saw the conclusion of municipal elections that were held over four stages in the country throughout the month of May.

“I was banking on the Lebanese people, not the political powers, to hold the municipal polls,” continued the interior minister.

“I will leave it up to the political powers to decipher the messages that emerged from the elections and to reconsider their choices.”

Furthermore, he stressed: “We sent a strong message against those who sought to label Lebanon as a failed state.”

The elections “proved that the Lebanese are committed to democracy and are keen on preserving their state institutions away from violence.”

The results of the elections were predictable in most areas, which means that politics “is well” and that the Lebanese interact with this politics, he noted, while revealing that with the exceptions of Beirut and Tripoli, the voter turnout averaged 50 percent.

M.T.

D.A.