国际英语新闻：Hezbollah says to welcome rivals in new gov't

BEIRUT, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah will welcome its political rivals in the new government if its candidate emerges as the new prime minister, the party's leader Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday.

"If our candidate wins, we will ask him to form a government of national partnership in which all parties will take part," the Hezbollah general secretary said in a concise televised speech.

Nasrallah spoke one day before President Michel Sleiman was scheduled to begin binding consultations with parliamentary blocs to appoint a new prime minister.

The Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance brought down Saad Hariri's 14-month national unity government earlier this month after a dispute over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is probing the 2005 assassination of the caretaker prime minister's father, statesman Rafic Hariri.

The indictments concerning the assasination issued by the court last week, which still remains classified, are widely expected to point the finger at Hezbollah members.

While Hezbollah and its allies said Hariri was not their choice to head the next government, the caretaker prime minister said he will run for a second term. But Nasrallah did not reveal during his speech the name of the March 8 coalition's preferred candidate.

The vote on Monday is expected to be tight, with the country's 128 MPs equally divided between the Hariri and Hezbollah's camps.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt announced Friday he would vote in favor of Hezbollah's choice to head the next government.