Gebran Bassil is wasting no time. The Free Patriotic Movement’s leader is pulling out all the stops to secure his political future, on several levels, after receiving a succession of political slaps in the face.
The son-in-law of the former president, Michel Aoun, is reportedly not happy with cleaning up the party he was catapulted to lead (thanks to his father-in-law) to get rid of those who don’t always agree with his policies. This operation, aimed primarily at consolidating his hold on the FPM in the run-up to the post-Michel Aoun era, is simultaneously associated with his efforts to neutralize his electoral opponents.
By dismissing Metn MP and Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab, Bassil risks losing a great deal in this constituency, where his party currently has one MP, Ibrahim Kanaan. This is the reason why Gebran Bassil rushed to establish contacts with former Interior Minister Elias Murr, who is back in Lebanon for good after the end of his term as head of the “Interpol Foundation for a Safer World,” to forge an electoral alliance with him and the Armenian party, Tachnag, in the next elections.
Bassil is thus trying to kill two birds with one stone while blocking the way to attempts at rapprochement between the Kataeb party and Murr.
The Kataeb, founded by Pierre Gemayel and now presided over by his grandson, Samy Gemayel, had forged a discreet legislative alliance with former Prime Minister Michel Murr on several occasions between the 1990s and 2009.
In any case, this change in the political configuration in Metn would have triggered a political dynamic around plans for political-electoral alliances in this constituency, where the main Christian parties are omnipresent.
While it’s still too early to talk about alliances, preparations are well underway for the next parliamentary election.
