Polls Strictly Lebanese, Results Should be Accepted by All
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that it is up to Lebanese to decide whom they want to choose during the June 7 parliamentary elections stressing that all those who care for Lebanon”s independence should accept the result of the polls.
"The Lebanese people should choose whoever they want without resorting to a foreign side," Lavrov said after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh.
"It is important to accept the results of the elections not only by the Lebanese society but also by all those who want to see Lebanon independent and free," he said during his one-day visit to Lebanon.
Lavrov added that Moscow would deal with "the side that the Lebanese people will choose."
He said he was convinced that "the Lebanese leadership will make everything possible so that the Lebanese elections are held freely, transparently and democratically."
Asked about a report by German weekly Der Spiegel which said that Hizbullah was involved in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri”s assassination, Lavrov said: "We consider this an attempt to politicize things."
Lavrov met Monday morning President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace. He later held talks with Premier Fouad Saniora at the Grand Serail.
"We will support the Lebanese people no matter what the election results were. The elections are for the Lebanese people. Let them choose what they want," Lavrov said after meeting Saniora.
The Russian FM later visited with MP Saad Hariri the former premier”s graveyard in downtown Beirut.
An official statement from the Russian embassy had said Lavrov, who arrived in Beirut overnight, will express support for Lebanon”s stability and the efforts of the Lebanese authorities to hold free, fair and transparent parliamentary elections.
The daily As Safir said on its front-page headline on Monday that Lavrov”s visit is aimed at examining the repercussions of "Hurricane Biden," a reference to U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden who was in Beirut last week.
Diplomatic sources, meanwhile, told the Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA, that Russia "respects" the various Lebanese parties, and would deal with any Lebanese team that wins the parliamentary elections "away from external interference."
Biden”s visit, which also was a show of support for Suleiman, was seen by the opposition as meddling in Lebanese internal affairs.
"It appears that this visit is part of a U.S. bid to supervise the electoral campaign of a Lebanese party which feels threatened politically … in light of the expected outcome of the legislative vote," Hizbullah MP Hasan Fadlallah had said of Biden”s brief trip.
Lavrov also extended an invitation to Lebanon to participate in Russia”s planned international conference on the Middle East.
Russia announced in January its intention to stage a Middle East conference in the first half of this year, but the idea has not been received with enthusiasm in either Israel or its key ally, the United States.
Lavrov was in Damascus on Sunday where he briefed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Moscow”s wish to "organize a conference on the Middle East in order to discuss the peace process."
Syria”s news agency, SANA, said Assad responded that "the conference must be well-prepared" and "set out objectives as well as the positions of those parties concerned" in the Israeli-Arab conflict.