NNA – Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, on Monday said during the launch of the Municipal and Mukhtars Elections Operations Room at the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities that “municipal elections could mark a first step in activating administrative decentralization, long awaited by the Lebanese.”

The PM called on young people to run and vote in the upcoming elections, stressing that “renewal in political life comes through them.”

Salam added that municipal elections would help “revitalize the nation’s arteries,” and affirmed that after their completion, the government would “intensively study various development projects.”

For his part, Interior Minister, Ahmad Hajar, stressed that “the ministry and the state cannot submit to the agenda of the Israeli enemy,” affirming that elections will be held on schedule.

He added that “security preparations are underway across all Lebanese regions,” noting that diplomatic efforts by the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister aim to demonstrate Lebanon’s sovereignty through the timely completion of the electoral process.

========R.H.