Nasrallah accuses opponents of deceiving public

Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday that while his organization accepts its loss in the parliamentary elections, Hizbullah questions the methods of its opponents – the anti-Syrian camp.

"We accept these results...with sportsmanship and in a democratic way and we accept that the ruling camp has achieved the parliamentary majority," Nasrallah said in a televised address, adding that the opposition had been

successful in maintaining its power.

Nasrallah congratulated "all those who won, those in the majority and those in the opposition," striking a reconciliatory tone.

Lebanese elections:

• Hizbullah defeated in Lebanon vote
• Obama praises Lebanon's 'courage'
• Peretz: Lebanon change began with 2006 war
  

"It is our sincere hope that the next government will continue along the path towards building a sovereign, independent and stable Lebanon," he said, adding that opposition leaders would meet soon to agree on a joint position on the naming of a new prime minister and the formation of a new government.

However he then went on to accuse his rivals used all manner of illicit methods to secure their victory.

The Hizbullah leader said the 'March 14' coalition had used bribery, incitement and deception to scare the Lebanese public into voting against the Shiite organization.

"The other camp is the one that should be honest with the Lebanese," he said, "the other camp is the one that must be honest with the Lebanese (now). The winning camp will show the Lebanese what its priorities are and what mentality is has, whether it has learned from past mistakes or whether it will make them again in the future. The opposition has maintained its power and therefore it cannot leave."

'People voted for resistance'

Nasrallah also stated that Hizbullah will not disarm. "The resistance is not something that was forced on the people. The vote for resistance is the people's choice, especially in the areas that have been attacked," he said.

"There were those who said elections could not be held under the arms of the resistance but this was not true. One of the important conclusions is that these arms are not intended to impose a particular political reality.

"The public here has sent a message to the world, and no one forced it on them. And the message is that they have adopted the resistance option – this option is an expression of those peoples' desires and their choice. The second message is that the resistance is not a weapon to be debated. As long as the resistance has public support, not one can do anything, we said this before the elections regardless of the outcome."

UN calls on Lebanese to 'respect' results

Results declared by Interior Minister Ziad Baroud showed Saad al-Hariri's pro-Western bloc had won 71 of parliament's 128 seats, against 57 for an opposition alliance that groups Shi'ite factions Hizbullah and Amal with Christian leader Michel Aoun.

Hariri's total includes three independents who ran on his lists in Sunday's election, which many had predicted would produce a slim victory for Hizbullah and its partners.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Lebanese to respect the results and hoped the process to start forming a government would begin immediately, his spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Former US President Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Centre was also observing the election, said the results were "fairly accurate as a judgment of the will of the people." "There will always be some violations," he added at a news conference.

The EU observer mission said vote-buying had marred the election. "Financial resources played an excessively large role in the campaign and new regulations on spending have yet to have any notable effort on this phenomenon," it added.

Reuters contributed to this report