Hezbollah says its steadfast contribution to the electoral process in Lebanon disproved the claims that the resistance group would use its firepower in favor of a win.

"These weapons are not to impose political realities. The people had their say freely," said the resistance movement's Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday on the pre-election allegations surrounding the June 7 parliamentary polling in the country.

"The whole electoral process has proved the integrity of the party that is using those arms," he added in a televised address.

He also made clear that the most important measure of the success of the balloting will be all parties' commitment to the national integrity and best interests of Lebanon. The Hezbollah-led bloc (March 8) won 57 seats in the polls losing the majority to the ruling pro-Western coalition (March 14) which claimed 71 of the seats.

The March 14 bloc has long been pressuring Hezbollah to lay down its arms. This is also a favorite theme of the UN Security Council, the US and Israel. The movement, which has quelled two Israeli attacks on Lebanese soil in 2000 and 2006, insists on keeping possession of the arsenal in case Tel Aviv renews its assaults.

"If the opposition had won, this matter would have been raised again, but now that the March 14 bloc won, no one is mentioning the issue. Today this big lie has been exposed," the resistance leader continued.

He concluded that "we accept the result regardless of evidence of voter fraud, sectarian incitement ... , the lies that were aimed to intimidate the public opinion ... and open foreign interference."

The March 14 coalition is accused of boosting its powerbase by returning hundreds of Sunni expatriates and trying to buy the votes of the disadvantaged among the population and this is widely believed to have been financed by Saudi Arabia.

HN/SME/HAR