Bassil on Lebanese elections: Battle was with Washington and "Israel"

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The leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, said on Sunday that this battle wasn't a case of regular competition but rather began on October 17, 2019, with the United States.

Bassil added, during a press conference he held following the closing of polling stations in the Lebanese parliamentary elections, that the former US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Schenker confessed to having directed the confrontation "with me, considering what I represent," and also admitted "the failure of the project that targeted us".

The former US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs had made dangerous statements regarding the role played by former US President Donald Trump in the country in order to speed up Lebanon's financial collapse, and on the administration exploiting the October 17 movement in order to tarnish Hezbollah's image and weak it with its allies like the Free Patriotic Movement.

Regarding the elections, Bassil noted that the funds spent on the elections come from a well-known regional country, which indicates that the battle is on a regional level, adding that the Lebanese Forces Party takes the top spot in Lebanon in purchasing electoral votes.

He further said that these elections forged people's wills through the payment of money, and what is apparent so far, is that the FPM emerged victorious in this battle and will have a sizeable parliamentary bloc, stressing that everyone will remain, and no one will be able to cancel out anyone else.

The main thing in Lebanon, according to Bassil, is to return people's funds, adding that the United States attempted to break Lebanon economically in order to make them fail in the elections, and failed to do so. 

Al Mayadeen's correspondents reported the closure of most polling stations in Lebanese electoral districts. From seven in the morning, voters flocked to elect a new parliament, in all governorates, amid strict security measures taken by the army and internal security forces.

In these parliamentary elections, which take place every 4 years, 103 electoral lists comprising 718 candidates distributed over 15 electoral districts, are competing to choose 128 MPs.

After the polls closed, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati thanked the Lebanese security forces for their keenness to complete the electoral process, wishing that "the elections will produce a new parliament to extricate Lebanon from its current crisis."