Aoun votes in South, says there are 'guarantees' Israel won't disrupt polls

President Joseph Aoun voted Saturday in his southern hometown al-Aishiyeh in the fourth and final round of the country’s municipal and mayoral elections.

Aoun headed to al-Aishiyeh after inspecting the electoral operations rooms in Sidon and Nabatieh.

“These elections prove that the will of life is stronger than death and that the will of construction is stronger than destruction,” Aoun said in Sidon.

Speaking to reporters after casting his vote in his hometown al-Aishiyeh, in the Jezzine district, Aoun said: “I protected the elections throughout 40 years (as an army officer and commander), and today I’m casting my vote for the first time in an electoral juncture.”

Asked whether there are “guarantees” that Israel will not stage attacks in the South during the electoral day, Aoun said: “There are guarantees and I call on voters to turn out heavily.”

“The message should be is that the South belongs to Lebanon and is the heart of Lebanon and nothing should deter the resilience will of the Lebanese,” the president added.

Israel carried out a wave of intensive airstrikes on alleged Hezbollah targets in the South on Thursday, one of the fiercest since the latest war. Calm has however prevailed since Friday morning in a sign that the international community may have managed to rein in Israel to secure the success of the electoral process.