The third phase of parliamentary elections, dedicated to the public employees who will oversee Sunday's polls, kicked off Thursday across Lebanon.

The Lebanese had voted abroad in 58 countries on Friday and Sunday, with a 60 percent turnout.

President Michel Aoun said Thursday, at the beginning of a regular Cabinet session, that the port blast probe must resume quickly.

"The stalemate has been unjust to some detainees who might be innocent," he added, as he pointed out that many issues must be addressed quickly before the government becomes a caretaker government.

Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi has called on Lebanon’s Sunni community to turn out heavily in the May 15 parliamentary elections, warning that “reluctance from practicing the right of voting would deepen the country’s crises.”

“You actively took part in founding the country and enshrining its National Pact. You did not take part in civil war and you did not take up arms. Today you are invited to participate heavily in pulling Lebanon out of a war that is of another nature – the war of poverty, deprivation and employment, which has entered into the homes of all Lebanese,” Mawlawi said in an interview with the Saudi al-Bilad newspaper.

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday sent a cable of condolences to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over the killing of veteran Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh with “treacherous Israeli bullets as she was practicing her journalistic work.”

“As she joins the procession of the martyrs of occupied Palestine, who faced the Israeli occupation’s arrogance with their firm will, she confirms once again, with her blood, that this brutal occupation has total disregard for all international conventions and laws that govern journalistic work,” Aoun says in the cable.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati urged the Lebanese Wednesday to cast their votes in the parliamentary elections on Sunday.

"Voting is a right and duty that one should not refrain from nor hesitate to perform," Miqati said.

The "destructive actions" of Lebanon’s political and financial leaders are responsible for forcing most of the country’s population into poverty, in violation of international human rights law, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter, said in a report published Wednesday.

Urging the country to "change course," De Schutter accused the central bank of an "accounting sleight of hand regarding its losses... that covertly created a massive public debt... which will condemn the Lebanese for generations."

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday stressed that his party should be represented in any future government, as he emphasized that Lebanon cannot be ruled in a unilateral manner regardless of who wins the parliamentary majority.

“We will keep insisting on being present in any government, regardless of its nature, structure and program, in order to protect the resistance's back,” Nasrallah told an electoral rally via video link.

Ex-PM Fouad Saniora on Tuesday strongly dismissed accusations that he has “betrayed” ex-PM Saad Hariri by engaging in the electoral battle despite al-Mustaqbal Movement’s decision to boycott the vote.

“He who can accuse Saniora of betrayal is ‘yet to be born,’” Saniora said in an interview on MTV in response to a question.

Parliament Speaker and Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri on Tuesday said he is in favor of “toppling the system of corruption” but warned that some are “exploiting the corruption issue” in order to “target the resistance” and the “values” of Hizbullah and the Amal Movement.

“In the name of the (Shiite) Duo, I say let the judiciary tackle corruption… We will not provide a cover for anyone,” Berri told a Hizbullah-Amal electoral rally via video link.

The Lebanese Forces on Tuesday filed complaints against Hizbullah with the public prosecution and the Supervisory Commission for Elections, accusing the rival party of practicing “psychological and sectarian incitement and hostile mobilization” in the Baalbek-Hermel electoral district.

“Some of this party’s members, leaders and organized elements have waged media and rhetorical campaigns aimed at sowing discord among the elements of the nation and instilling terror and fear in citizens,” the LF charged.