Qassem Attributes 'Stability in Lebanon' to 'Hizbullah Fighters', Urges Proportional Representation
Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Sunday attributed the current “stability in Lebanon” to “Hizbullah's jihadi fighters, the stance of the army and the security forces, and everyone who endorsed this honorable stance to protect our country and future.”
“Had it not been for the resistance's achievements, those in Lebanon betting on foreign developments would not have despaired and we would not have been able to carry out the presidential elections,” Qassem added.
He was referring to Hizbullah's military intervention in neighboring Syria, where hundreds of Hizbullah fighters are supporting the regime's forces against an Islamist-led uprising.
Around 1,000 Hizbullah members have been killed in Syria since the start of the conflict. The party argues that its intervention was necessary to protect Lebanon from extremist groups and to prevent the fall of Syria into the hands of hostile forces.
Separately, Qassem called on Lebanese officials to “show courage and sacrifice” by approving “a fair electoral law based on proportional representation.”
President Michel Aoun was elected Lebanon's 13th president on Monday, ending around two and a half years of presidential vacuum.
A key endorsement from al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri and crucial support from Hizbullah and the Lebanese Forces contributed to Aoun's election.
Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law based on proportional representation but other political parties, especially Mustaqbal, have rejected the proposal and argued that the party's controversial arsenal of arms would prevent serious competition in regions where the Iran-backed party is influential.
Mustaqbal, the LF and the Progressive Socialist Party have meanwhile proposed a hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems. Speaker Nabih Berri has also proposed a hybrid law.
The country has not voted for a parliament since 2009, with the legislature instead twice extending its own mandate.
The 2009 polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law.
06 November 2016, 21:06
02
Those 1000 killed inside Syria and those fighters in Iraq and Yemen saved beirut, Tripoli and jounieh from falling under the ISIS regime and stopped the car bombs from arriving to the Lebanese cities? It is not the Lebanese army who is guarding our borders, it is the militia leadership in Goulan that was assisinated by Israel that protected Lebanon. Keep lying to the Shia and Lebanese community.
07 November 2016, 03:12
01
Our poor old spamming trolling friend is having a nervous breakdown, again. Done it before and here he's losing it again.
06 November 2016, 21:51
05
Ya kassem ya to2borni,
We are in the 21st century. We dont need your martyrs or your heros. We need entrepreuneurs who open businesses and do start ups and create jobs.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but your fighting and your stupid resistance is so 20th century. If you like wars so much let those young shia do a weapons related startup. But stop sending them to fight the syrian people...
07 November 2016, 08:10
02
Why so much hate against each other who cares if ur sunni or Shia or Druze or Christian. We are all Lebanese we got to unite to many of our countrymen are dying because they got no food. Wake up guys we need to love each other.
Having said that, to the the Sunni brother that wants to insult Imam Hussien peace be upon him wake up Hussien loves his whole ummah. Hussien not a Shia thing its Islam and Christianity. Im sunni ( you can ask mowaten or nonabelle about me ) and we love Ahlul Bayt and Yazzid will be judged for his actions in the depth of hell. May God curse be upon Yazid... and all Sunnis.
06 November 2016, 18:29
51
You are a very sick person. Can you not express an opinion that is not vile or genocidal?
07 November 2016, 03:59
04
poor mowaten he lost it. i wonder if he is still secular after this tirade:)
07 November 2016, 05:28
05
read the troll mowaten's despicable comments on the below article!!!!!
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/219808-assad-says-west-growing-weaker-in-syria
07 November 2016, 07:53
04
Qassem Attributes 'Stability in Lebanon' to 'Hizbullah Fighters', Urges Proportional Representation
do they have proportional representation in Iran? LOL
07 November 2016, 20:10
00
Thing is we only see what´s on the surface of their hideout. The reality is less positive than what they are trying to paint to all their uneducated followers who believe everything they are told and convinced with a few lebanese liras or a medical service for free. The US treasury is closing in on them each day more and it is becoming more and more difficult for them to launder their money in south america, africa, and other parts of the world, and the deal that was struck with Iran is only detrimental to their existence which they havent realized yet.
07 November 2016, 20:14
00
At the end of the day the militia arms are not what will protect our country, what will protect us is the foreign policies that our government can come up with to keep good relations with europe and the u.s. in order for them to keep protecting our land from el hizb and not from israel as they are trying to make us think. Didnt israel start a war with lebanon because the palestinians and nusrallah brought their war to lebanese soil? this terrorist group will always use lebanon as a playground to fight their foreign wars in order to exist, a so called terrorist group or militia or now a quasi political party, its simply a fake excuse for what they really are and that is an international terrorist organization who is based on corruption and criminal activities for the economical gain of a few thugs (including the ones dressed as sheikhs)
