FPM Delegation Meets Gemayel, Says 'President Election Nearing'
A Free Patriotic Movement delegation visited Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel in Bikfaya on Friday and announced that the election of a president “is nearing,” although “nothing is final yet.”
“Kataeb have principles upon which they would base any decision regarding the presidency and these principles resemble a lot those of the FPM,” Education Minister Elias Bou Saab said after the meeting.
In this regard he noted that “the election of a president is nearing but nothing is final yet.”
Gemayel for his part announced that Kataeb's “political stance cannot be sold or bought.”
“We will maintain communication because we have a relation of friendship with the FPM,” he added.
Ex-PM Saad Hariri's recent return to Lebanon has triggered a flurry of reports about a possible presidential settlement and it has become known that the ex-PM is exploring the possibility of endorsing FPM founder MP Michel Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock.
Lebanon 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 Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
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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