Nasrallah Rejects Tripartite Power-Sharing, Urges 'Domestic' Talks over President
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday called for “domestic efforts” and dialogue to elect a new president instead of awaiting the outcome of any Saudi-Iranian talks, stressing that Hizbullah has never raised the issue of tripartite power-sharing between Christians, Sunnis and Shiites.
“We extremely regret recent remarks accusing our camp, especially the Shiite duo, of seeking tripartite power-sharing, and someone is trying to say that we want a presidential void because we want to reach tripartite power-sharing,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech commemorating late scholar Sheikh Mustafa Qassir al-Ameli.
“They have returned to this issue despite the fact that we had denied it. They sought to incorporate it into the presidential race in a bid to pressure the Shiite duo. If we don't accept their proposals, they accuse us of seeking tripartite power-sharing,” Nasrallah lamented.
“Accusations that we are seeking tripartite power-sharing are baseless and you should provide evidence. Bring us a single statement by a Shiite scholar that proves that we are seeking tripartite power-sharing in Lebanon. We would apologize if you do so. No one has raised this issue and you know that the idea of tripartite power-sharing was never on our minds,” said Nasrallah, addressing the rival camp.
He reminisced that “years ago, the French were the first party to raise this issue in Tehran.”
“They told the Iranians that the Taef Accord had become outdated and asked them about their opinion regarding tripartite power-sharing. The Iranians had never thought of this matter, but they asked us about it and we said that it is totally out of the question,” Nasrallah clarified.
“Should anyone insist on accusing us of tripartite power-sharing, they can take their time to realize that this is not true,” he added.
“This matter is out of the question for us, we have never thought of it and we have never demanded it or sought to achieve it,” Hizbullah's chief underlined.
Turning to the issue of the stalled presidential election, Nasrallah called for “domestic efforts” in this regard instead of waiting for foreign negotiations.
“Foreign powers are saying that they won't intervene, so why are you waiting for them?” he said.
Nasrallah called for “serious efforts and multi-party efforts to reach the needed result in the issue of the presidency.”
“We call for more than dialogue between al-Mustaqbal (movement) and the Free Patriotic Movement,” he urged.
“In light of our relation with Iran, I tell you that you should not await the outcome of the Iranian-Saudi negotiations, because until the moment, there is no known date and it is unknown if there will be an imminent date. The topics of the talks are still unknown and no one has said that the presidential vote will be on the table of negotiations,” added Nasrallah.
“Moreover, Iran does not impose anything on its allies, not in Lebanon, neither in Syria nor in Iraq or any place, because it respects its friends everywhere,” he pointed out.
He urged all the “keen parties” to exert real efforts to salvage the presidential juncture.
“The Saudis are openly saying that they don't want to interfere, which means that no one wants to interfere. We call for domestic efforts to hold the vote,” added Nasrallah.
“Agree to hold the election and accept the figure who is the strongest at the Christian and national levels and we're willing to go to parliament, but the party that is preventing the strongest figure from reaching the presidency is well-known,” he went on to say.
On the current security situation in the country, Nasrallah said one of the most important factors for security is "pacifying the political rhetoric, which means an end to sectarian incitement."
"Despite everything happening in the region, I stress that we are keen on security, peace and stability ... and on communication and cooperation at any level," he added.
Commenting on the recent wartime Syrian presidential elections, Nasrallah said the vote “proved that a political solution in Syria begins and ends with President Bashar Assad."
He also said the warring parties should "stop the bloodshed" and negotiate.
"We call on combatants ... to move towards reconciliation and dialogue and look for political exits to stop the bloodshed," added Nasrallah.
“Syria's election is one of the most important events that have recently happened, in addition to this popular turnout which represents a major victory for its leadership,” he said.
“Someone described the elections as a 'zero' and this is 'his zero' and another issued a statement full of insults which does not contain a single political sentence,” Nasrallah added, referring to statements by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and former Premier Saad Hariri, respectively.
“The Syrians said we're the ones who make Syria's future, not the U.S. or Geneva I and Geneva II.”
Nasrallah also pointed out that “the blessings of Syria's victory will affect Lebanon and the entire region.”
Assad was re-elected in a landslide, officials said Wednesday, capturing a third seven-year term in the middle of a bloody three-year-old uprising against his rule that has devastated the country.
Syria's parliament Speaker, Jihad Laham, announced the final results from Tuesday's election, saying Assad garnered 10,319,723 votes, or 88.7 percent. Laham said Assad's two challengers, Hassan al-Nouri and Maher Hajjar, won 4.3 percent and 3.2 percent respectively. The Supreme Constitutional Court put turnout at 73.42 percent.
Assad's victory was always a foregone conclusion, despite the presence of other candidates on the ballot for the first time in decades.
Voting was held only in government-controlled areas, excluding huge tracks of northern and eastern Syria that are in rebel hands. The opposition and its Western allies, including the United States, have denounced the election as a farce.
Y.R.
Source: Naharnet
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