After Aoun… Hezbollah Boycotts Beirut's Municipal Elections

After Aoun… Hezbollah Boycotts Beirut's Municipal Elections

05/05/2010 One day after the head of the Change and Reform parliamentary MP Michel Aoun announced his Free Patriotic Movement would boycott the municipal elections in Beirut in protest to the "hegemony" imposed by some political parties in the capital, Hezbollah declared on Wednesday its boycott of the municipal elections in Beirut, calling on its supporters to only participate in the election of mayors.

"Given the importance of the capital Beirut and its representativeness at the national level as well as the diversity in its structure, and in harmony with the political consensus atmosphere that prevailed after the formation of the national unity government, we sought in Hezbollah to form a unified list of candidates that reflects all the popular and political components of the capital and we did not propose impossible demands, as what was claimed, to justify our withdrawal from forming the unified list," Hezbollah said in a statement.

"However, the refusal to acknowledge a large Sunni opposition bloc as well as the refusal to acknowledge the Free Patriotic Movement's true size of representation, led to the obstruction of an agreement in the capital," the statement added.

Hezbollah said that once it became clear that a real electoral battle would develop between its list and the Future Movement's list, sectarian tensions and attempts to influence the public began to emerge. Such developments would have taken place at the expense of the democratic nature of the Beirut elections, and instead transformed it into a sectarian battlefield, it warned.

"Given the current situation and developments accompanying the Beirut elections, and to the fact that many of our political allies have also decided to boycott the polls, and given all proofs that confirm that various sides started exploiting the electoral competition in the interest of the gloomy sectarian incitement, we have decided to boycott the municipal elections in the city of Beirut, withdraw the candidacy of Hajj Hani Qassem to the membership of its municipal council and effectively take part in the elections of the mayors in Beirut."

Hezbollah concluded its statement by wishing good luck for all the capital's people in electing those who can serve their interests and achieve their objectives at all levels.

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