Lebanon: Political Parties Organize Ranks In Union Elections Ahead of Parliamentary Polls

President Michel Aoun met on Thursday with Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi to discuss preparations for the parliamentary elections (Dalati & Nohra)
President Michel Aoun met on Thursday with Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi to discuss preparations for the parliamentary elections (Dalati & Nohra)
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Lebanon: Political Parties Organize Ranks In Union Elections Ahead of Parliamentary Polls

President Michel Aoun met on Thursday with Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi to discuss preparations for the parliamentary elections (Dalati & Nohra)
President Michel Aoun met on Thursday with Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi to discuss preparations for the parliamentary elections (Dalati & Nohra)

The recent union elections in Lebanon saw some of the major political parties disregard their political differences and join forces in electoral alliances that led to some victories, ahead of the upcoming parliamentary polls.

After a resounding loss that the parties in power encountered in union and university elections over the last two years that followed the uprising of Oct. 2019, political blocs were able to achieve some success in union elections this year, hand in hand, directly or by agreement with independent candidates.

The results affected the momentum of the civil groups, which were unable to form strong fronts amid differences over electoral alliances, according to sources in the opposition who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat.

The Press Editors Syndicate’s elections on Wednesday witnessed the success of a list supported by various Lebanese political parties.

Similarly, the elections of the Beirut Bar Association saw disputing political parties agree on a list headed by Lawyer Nader Gaspar, who achieved victory.

However, according to political sources, the agreement to support specific candidates in the union elections “cannot be built upon as a full alliance”, given that each election “has its own circumstances and calculations.”

Sources close to the Amal Movement said that in the union elections, “there was an intersection between the movement and other parties, including Al-Kataeb, Al-Mustaqbal and the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), but this was controlled by specific circumstances related to the nature of the election. It cannot be generalized or built upon as preparations for the parliamentary elections.”

Political parties and forces deal with the union elections differently, as the parliamentary elections include regional and partisan criteria.

Each party had set a framework for its alliances in the upcoming parliamentary elections. While the PSP did not shut the door to an alliance with the Lebanese Forces and Al-Mustaqbal, sources close to the Amal Movement stressed that alliances were open with any party with whom it would share converging stances.

For his part, resigned MP Elias Hankash said that Al-Kataeb party was committed to its decision to forge alliances only with figures from outside the parliament and the government.

“The closest to us are the resigned deputies and groups with whom we agree on two issues: Lebanon’s sovereignty and rejection of the ‘state within the state’, and the fight against corruption,” Hankash told Asharq Al-Awsat.



Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”