Hizbullah MPs Warn against 'Marginalizing FPM', Slam Mustaqbal's 'Obstruction Faction'

Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc on Thursday warned against “marginalizing” the Free Patriotic Movement and described it as “a main component of the country,” while claiming that there is an “obstruction faction” in the al-Mustaqbal Movement.

“We warn against marginalizing a main component of the country, the FPM, seeing as the political process cannot stabilize without its participation,” said the bloc in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

“The political crisis has reached a dangerous extent that has started to threaten the State's stricture, which requires a sense of national responsibility and an end to the intransigence that al-Mustaqbal Movement is insisting on,” it added.

Loyalty to Resistance also lamented that Mustaqbal “has failed to grab the chance provided by Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's call for finding a solution to the crisis.”

“Nasrallah's remarks carried a national aspect and we hold the 'obstruction faction' in al-Mustaqbal responsible for thwarting the initiative,” the bloc added.

Nasrallah has recently hinted that Hizbullah is willing to accept to the re-designation of Mustaqbal leader ex-PM Saad Hariri as prime minister in return for the election of Free FPM founder MP Michel Aoun as president and the re-election of Speaker Nabih Berri as head of parliament.

The country has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, 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 Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman 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.

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.