FPM Vows to Confront Those 'Blocking Partnership' until 'Martyrdom'
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil noted Tuesday that there are “attempts to achieve accord” in the country while warning that the FPM would confront anyone seeking to “block partnership” strongly and to the extent of “martyrdom.”
“Nowadays, we are witnessing attempts to achieve accord and we warn anyone who might seek to sabotage the country and block partnership that we would confront them with all our strength and to the extent of martyrdom,” said Bassil after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc in Rabieh.
“Our defense of the National Pact is a defense of all Lebanese – Christians and Muslims,” he added.
Earlier in the day, al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc announced that al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri has launched “consultations with all political parties” in a bid to “speed up the election of a president,” while reiterating that Hizbullah and its allies are to blame for the protracted presidential void crisis.
The statements of the two blocs come a few hours after talks between Hariri and his declared presidential candidate, Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh, and three days after Hariri returned to the country from a foreign trip that lasted several weeks.
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, FPM founder MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.
Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
Hariri's move prompted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival, after months of political rapprochement talks between their two parties.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
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