Qassem: No One Can Monopolize Power, Taef Accord Still Valid

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem stressed Friday that no Lebanese party has the ability to “monopolize power” in the country, noting that the 1989 Taef Accord is still valid for running the country's affairs.

“Everyone must admit that no Lebanese party has the ability to monopolize power and that the Taef Accord is still valid and appropriate for securing balance among the various parties and stability in Lebanon,” Hizbullah number two said.

“Instead of sectarian gains, we must seek national gains, which are beneficial for everyone,” he added.

Qassem also called for a “fair electoral law” and an “upright judiciary,” while urging the Lebanese to “behave according to the principle that we are living together.”

Hizbullah's ally Speaker Nabih Berri has recently stressed that “there is no alternative” to the Taef Accord that ended the civil war while ruling out the possibility of holding a so-called constituent assembly in the foreseeable future.

There are fears in the country that the ongoing political and presidential vacuum might eventually lead to introducing constitutional amendments or holding a constituent assembly that would radically change the current political system that is based on a delicate distribution of power among the country's sects.

Berri himself and Hizbullah have been accused of seeking a constituent assembly aimed at altering the political system in their favor.

In June 2012, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah openly called for “a constituent assembly elected by the people.”

“Why don't we form a constituent assembly elected by the people -- not on a sectarian or regional basis but on the basis of competency -- in order to discuss all options. Let it discuss the Taef Accord, a new social contract or a non-sectarian system,” he said.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

Hariri's move prompted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival, after months of political rapprochement talks between their two parties.

The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.