Naharnet

Bassil Meets March 8 Sunni MPs, Urges Hariri Meeting

Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil met Monday with the MPs of the pro-Hizbullah Consultative Sunni Gathering and called for a meeting between them and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri in order to resolve a spat that is delaying the formation of the new government.

“The meeting was frank and we voiced our remarks with the aim of reaching a solution,” Bassil said after the meeting.

“I call on the parties who are directly concerned with the obstacle to hold a meeting between them in order to reach a solution,” he urged.

Bassil also noted that President Michel Aoun is not involved in the standoff.

Speaking on behalf of the MPs, the lawmaker Abdul Rahim Mrad said: “We will sit together as MPs of the Consultative Gathering to study our next move and we have reiterated to Mr. Jebran that we insist on the appointment of one of us.”

“PM-designate Saad Hariri must become convinced and must offer concessions and we will engage in dialogue with him,” Mrad added.

“Rejecting the nomination of one of us is intransigency,” the MP added, in response to a reporter’s question.

The government was on the verge of formation on October 29 after the Lebanese Forces accepted the portfolios that were assigned to it but a last-minute hurdle over the representation of pro-Hizbullah Sunni MPs surfaced.

Hizbullah has insisted that the six Sunni MPs should be given a seat in the government, refraining from providing Hariri with the names of its three Shiite ministers in a bid to press him.


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