The secretary general of the Lebanese Hizbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, is widely expected to be elected to another three-year term when the party’s Shura Council meets later this week, reported the Daily Star on Wednesday.
The election follows an announcement by Hizbollah that the party has concluded its conclave, held in secret every three years to discuss policy and make new appointments. The congress was the sixth since 1983.
“It’s obvious that Nasrallah, who has been secretary general for nine years, will be re-elected,” said a party source, adding that the prediction was based on Nasrallah’s broad “national support and the recommendations of party officials.”
Prior to 1998, a party bylaw had limited leaders to two terms. However, an amendment that year extended Nasrallah’s term for “three years or more,” said the paper.
Despite that extension, the council decided to call for the elections, which will be the first to take place since the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon a year ago.
Denouncing a published report that claimed Nasrallah could be made secretary general for life, the source said the party’s bylaws did not allow for such a move.
The seven-member Shura Council was elected on Monday by party members, with five places going to returning members, said the paper.
Hizbollah, which maintains a strong grip on the south, has an uneasy relationship with the government in Beirut, and is resisting the Israeli occupation of the Shabaa Farms – Albawaba.com
