Makari: Hizbullah Not Willing to Lose Grip on Country

Deputy Speaker Farid Makari said Monday that Hizbullah is not ready to lose its grip on Lebanon and prefers that the parliamentary elections are not held.

“The March 8 team and mainly Hizbullah is not ready to lose its control and hegemony over the country and is aware that it would lose the elections if a (new) law” is not up to its expectations, Makari told Radio Orient.

“Hizbullah would not be willing for the polls to be held based on any electoral law if that law does not guarantee its victory,” he said.

Makari, who is in Paris, expected the first few meetings of a parliamentary subcommittee to show signs whether the March 8 and March 14 opposition MPs could reach an agreement on an electoral law.

The subcommittee that is tasked with studying the number of districts and type of system is scheduled to hold several meetings starting Tuesday.

While saying that most parties have rejected the adoption of the winner-takes-all system that was adopted in 1960, Makari said: “We would go ahead with the 1960 law in the elections if the committee failed in its mission.”

The deputy speaker expressed belief that the agreement on an electoral law is a “long path” towards the collapse of the government which the March 14 opposition has been calling for since the Oct. 19 assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Wissam al-Hasan.

Asked about the March 14's boycott of government-related activity, Makari said: “This is a way for expressing our stance and to lift the cover of legitimacy from this cabinet.”

He lamented that the government could not collapse due to the withdrawal of parliamentary support saying March 8 is so far holding the majority in parliament.