Title: Qassem: We Do Not Want the Presidency to Control the Country

The Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naeem Qassem, viewed on the ninth night of Ashura in Beirut that "the complications of the presidential elections are still present, and it seems that they will take additional time before finding a way to resolve them, and the solution does not appear to be swift." He continued: "We will be positive and open to discussing any proposed ideas in the spirit of reaching a conclusion, thus we do not close the door on discussion. Here, we are not working to challenge anyone, and our logic from the beginning has been to choose a national president who unites everyone. We have never thought or acted to choose a president to challenge anyone, nor do we want the presidency alongside us to marginalize others or to control the country or to influence future decisions in a way that serves us and not our nation." Qassem concluded: "We welcome any positive effort on this ground that we have talked about, and all the exaggerations that you hear internally and externally and the bravado of some do not advance or delay anything, nor do they affect us positively or negatively. Whoever has a positive idea that can see the light, let them propose it so we can achieve the obligation instead of a lot of acrobatics and meaningless words."