The leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, lashed out at the opposition, but also the head of Parliament, Nabih Berri, during a FPM meeting in Batroun.
Bassil began by saying that “all Lebanese leaders are intentionally working to prolong the presidential vacancy.” “They want to impose on us a president whose representation is weak,” said the FPM leader. He also expressed his fear of a “return to a new Tayouneh alliance aimed at undermining the presidential election.” In this respect, he accused the opposition group of “complicity with the man who called for dialogue,” in a dig at the Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri. Last week, the latter had suggested a seven-day dialogue before holding successive parliamentary sessions to elect the President of the Republic.
The leader of the Aounist party criticized the refusal of the opposition group to engage in dialogue, including Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who had clearly expressed his “refusal to dialogue with criminals” (in allusion to the Hezbollah axis), last Sunday, during the annual mass for the martyrs of the Lebanese Resistance.
“When we reach a formula for consultation and dialogue with the French that is limited in terms of program, time and form, and leads to successive electoral sessions, the head of Parliament calls for a traditional dialogue,” the FPM leader protested. He added that “by categorically rejecting dialogue, the opposition group is offering a service to the head of parliament by obstructing the presidential election.”
Bassil was paradoxically the only one to welcome Berri’s call for dialogue, describing it as “positive and constructive.” The FPM leader is doing his utmost to make himself credible, but his latest speech was, as usual, window-dressing.
Bassil also criticized the fact that LF leader Samir Geagea “didn’t mention a single word about Syrian refugees during his (last) hour-long speech.” He added: “This is a crime against the Lebanese entity.”
