By Xinhua,
Beirut : Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said here Wednesday after meeting with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman that he hopes the upcoming Lebanese parliamentary elections would be honest and transparent, local Naharnet website reported.
Carter said he hopes to visit Lebanon again in spring 2009 to follow up the parliamentary elections, the report said.
Carter arrived in Beirut Tuesday began his four-day Mideast tour, during which he is also scheduled to visit Syria, where he will meet with President Bashar Assad.
In Lebanon, he has had talks with senior officials to assess whether his Carter Center would take part in monitoring Lebanon’s parliamentary elections or not.
However, Lebanese pro-Syrian Shiite Hezbollah group refused to meet with Carter, according to international media reports.
Lebanon’s forthcoming parliamentary elections in spring 2009 will be decisive to both the ruling coalition and the opposition since it will decide the ruler of the country for the coming four years.