Journalist Issa Yahya wrote in "Nada Al-Watan": "Hezbollah concluded its initial internal consultations and announced the names of its candidates for the upcoming parliamentary session, maintaining the status quo in the Baalbek-Hermel district. It awaits the completion of talks with some allies and personalities to finalize the list of names. In the face of the challenge for change and in response to its audience—who demanded a 'shakeup' concerning some names and deputies who have remained in their seats for consecutive terms—Hezbollah re-nominated the same faces (deputies: Hussein al-Hajj Hassan, Ibrahim al-Moussawi, Ali al-Muqdad, Ihab Hamadeh), as if it were a challenge to popular demands, anchored in the knowledge and expertise its deputies have accumulated over decades of legislative sessions. Today’s battle seems akin to the July war with a political nature, necessitating familiar faces whose names are commensurate with this conflict.
The demands of tribes and families, especially those that have not been represented in Hezbollah's parliamentary work since the 1990s, did not succeed in piercing the political landscape to make their voices heard, nor to achieve a breakthrough in bringing new blood from the party’s environment and its supportive towns, which have the right to have a representative in parliament under the party’s framework and approval. This opens the door for preparations for a list made up of tribal and familial figures the party has disregarded. In this context, sources from the Baalbek tribes confirm to "Nada Al-Watan" that "a nucleus of a list comprising names from major Baalbek tribes has begun to form, receiving approval and blessing from its sons. This list is not directed against Hezbollah in a direct manner; we are the sons of resistance, but it comes after the party marginalized our role and imposed on us candidates and deputies over the years." They added that "the candidates will hold weight within their families, intending to include other non-Shiite seats besides the Shiite ones." They further expressed that "many families and towns have been unrepresented despite their alliance with the duo and their support, necessitating raising the voice against the monopoly of representation and the marginalization of tribes," rejecting any allegations that the list might face regarding treason or similar accusations.
Regarding the party's alliances, which have remained confidential while awaiting the crystallization of positions and clarity amid conflicts among some allied figures, it has become certain that the "Free Patriotic Movement" will join the "Amal Movement" on the duo's list in Baalbek-Hermel after the alliance between Hezbollah and the orange movement, where the latter will be represented by the Catholic seat, which will go to engineer Roni Nasrallah from the town of Al-Qaa. However, this alliance might not encompass all the common districts among the three parties. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah mentioned this in his last speech, leaving the representative for the Maronite seat as a surprise that the party will reveal upon closing the door for nominations mid this month, which is the main battle the party will face against the Lebanese Forces, preferring to lose a Sunni seat rather than a Maronite one.
As for the two Sunni seats, the dissemination of news and information about alliances and names continues to circulate between Arsal and the major Baalbek families in an attempt to gauge Sunni sentiment and the street, ultimately leading to trying to settle on names that orbit the party, which reflects more than ever the Sunni environment opposing the return of the two Sunni seats in Baalbek-Hermel to the "Loyalty to the Resistance" list.
With the picture nearing completion, the sixth Shiite seat on the list still sways between Deputy Jamil al-Sayyed and Ali Hajazi, the regional secretary of the Ba'ath Party. After "Nada Al-Watan" indicated two months ago that Sayyed would remain in his parliamentary position in Baalbek-Hermel, news began circulating about Hajazi's candidacy with Syrian endorsement, as a replacement for Sayyed, whose stock has risen again in the past few days after having kept silent throughout this period, relying on the engines he has directed once again toward Damascus. Here, the party plays a role in trying to resolve the disagreement between the two via Damascus, opting for a Maronite figure comparable in popularity to Lebanese Forces Deputy Antoine Habshi."
