Kassem Hachem, a member of parliament close to House Speaker Nabih Berry, made a statement on Saturday regarding the agreement between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement. He said, “We are not bound by the agreement between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement unless we are convinced with what has been agreed.”
He added “The issue of financial decentralization is separate from the presidential dossier, and we will tackle it according to our convictions, without any need for the FPM to elect Sleiman Frangieh president of the Republic. We will only accept financial decentralization in return for legal constraints that prevent the total independence of administrative entities and guarantee balanced development. We do not want to achieve partition or federalization of the country.”
This response from the March 8 MP comes as an initial meeting between the FPM and Hezbollah is scheduled to take place next week, according to the local news channel MTV. The discussions will focus on administrative and financial decentralization, followed by a series of bilateral meetings.
The Mar Mikhael agreement, sealed over 17 years ago between the FPM and the pro-Iranian militia, appears to have been faltering for almost a year, especially concerning the issue of the presidential election.
FPM leader Gebran Bassil has been vacillating on this unusual alliance, attempting to secure political gains from Hezbollah. In early August, he acknowledged that he was in the midst of negotiations with Hezbollah over the presidential elections, similar to the spirit of the Mar Mikhael agreement. If his demands are met, these negotiations could lead him to abandon the opposition, which supports the candidacy of former minister Jihad Azour.
