Sayyed Nasrallah made the remarks in a meeting with Marada Party leader, MP Sleiman Frangieh that Patriotic Movement Chief, MP Michel Aoun is the leading presidential candidate, stressing that March 8 coalition should have a united stance regarding the issue of the presidential vote.
Lebanese press reported on Saturday that Sayyed Nasrallah received Frangieh on Thursday night, and that the two discussed several regional and local issues, on top of which was the presidential vote in Lebanon.
As-Safir daily reported that Sayyed Nasrallah had informed Frangieh that Hezbollah will not back down on Aoun. "We gave him our word and he has the priority."
The daily said that the March 8 coalition agreed on remaining united and patient in tackling the presidential crisis.
Meanwhile, Al-Akhbar newspaper said that the Marada leader underscored his commitment to the March 8 alliance during the meeting, denying claims that he offered former PM Saad Hariri any political guarantees in exchange for his support for his candidacy.
"I vehemently back Aoun's presidential bid, but how long are we going to remain at this standstill...what is our backup plan?" the newspaper quoted Frangieh as telling Sayyed Nasrallah.
Reports emerged last week showing that the 50-year-old Frangieh had met on December 3 with French President Francois Hollande and Hariri, who currently resides in Paris, to reach a deal on Lebanon’s 18-month political deadlock to elect a president. Hariri had earlier proposed Frangieh as a potential candidate with political observers raising the possibility that Hariri could return to Lebanon as the prime minister under a deal with Frangieh.
In Lebanon’s power-sharing system, the president must be a Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker a Shia Muslim. Any presidential candidate would have to receive the backing of the two main political blocs, the March 8 alliance and the rival March 14 alliance, to win the necessary majority from the legislature’s 128 members.
Aoun is supported by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies for the presidency against his political rival Samir Geagea, who is backed by the March 14 coalition.
Lebanon has been in a presidential vacuum since former President Michel Sleiman’s tenure ended in May 2014. The parliament has failed to find a successor.
Lebanese political factions are reportedly split on the foreign-backed conflict in neighboring Syria, causing a stalemate over the choice of president.
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In Focus
Ansarullah
A Zaidi Shiite movement operating in Yemen. It seeks to establish a democratic government in Yemen.
Shiite
represents the second largest denomination of Islam. Shiites believe Ali (peace be upon him) to be prophet"s successor in the Caliphate.
Resistance
Axis of Resistances refers to countries and movements with common political goal, i.e., resisting against Zionist regime, America and other western powers. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Palestine are considered as the Axis of Resistance.
Persian Gulf Cooperation Council
A regional political u n i o n consisting of Arab states of the Persian Gulf, except for Iraq.
Taliban
Taliban is a Sunni fundamentalist movement in Afghanistan. It was founded by Mohammed Omar in 1994.
Wahhabism & Extremism
Wahhabism is an extremist pseudo-Sunni movement, which labels non-Wahhabi Muslims as apostates thus paving the way for their bloodshed.
Kurds
Kurds are an ethnic group in the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region, which spans adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They are an Iranian people and speak the Kurdish languages, which form a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian branch of Iranian languages.
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949.
Islamic Awakening
Refers to a revival of the Islam throughout the world, that began in 1979 by Iranian Revolution that established an Islamic republic.
Al-Qaeda
A militant Sunni organization founded by Osama bin Laden at some point between 1988 and 1989
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