Bassil Says 'Change' Has Begun in Chouf-Aley after 4 Seats Won

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil announced Tuesday that “change” has started in the Mount Lebanon regions of Chouf and Aley, the bastion of Druze leader MP Walid Jumblat, after an FPM-led coalition managed to clinch four seats in the region in the parliamentary elections.

“We will together be in the Strong Lebanon bloc, in order to back the presidency and Mount Lebanon, support the restoration of rights for Christians and Druze in Mt. Lebanon, and revive prosperity and development in Mt. Lebanon,” Bassil said after meeting Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal Arslan, with whom the FPM allied in the Chouf-Aley electoral district.

Arslan and three Christian FPM candidates have won seats in the district in Sunday's elections.

Accusing the rival Reconciliation List of “evoking the rhetoric of war” during electoral campaigning, Bassil emphasized that the FPM will only resort to “the rhetoric of peace, reconciliation and complete return to Mount Lebanon, where our people from all sects and political components can live in peace and reassurance over the future of their sons in Mount Lebanon.”

He added: “This is only the beginning. With the four MPs who have won thanks to our common representation with (Arslan) and all those who cooperated with us, and due to our insistence on regaining our rights, we will have a doubled determination to continue these reforms.”

“We accept this loss, but what's important is that change has started in Mount Lebanon and its practical and peaceful implementation will take place over the next four years, as we prepare for the next elections,” Bassil went on to say.

He also underlined that “no one wants to eliminate anyone” in Chouf and Aley, emphasizing that Mukhtara, Jumblat's hometown, “cannot fall.”

“It will remain standing through its people and what it represents in Mount Lebanon and Lebanon,” Bassil added.