Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) chief Gebran Bassil said that the real fear is “laxity with regard to the presidential vacancy, and this issue must be separated from the others.”
After meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, Bassil stated that “there is a process aimed at preventing and blocking the election of a president of the Republic,” adding that “after a year of waiting (since the last unsuccessful electoral session on June 14, 2023), we must deploy our efforts to agree on a president capable of building a State and protecting Lebanon.”
Bassil blamed his political opponents for the lack of initiative and the stalemate in the presidential election, saying that his party was “ready to unite with the other Christian forces and blocs for this purpose, but that the Patriarch has not been able to launch such an initiative, because certain political forces do not want it.”
Moreover, he criticized “the permissiveness of the judiciary,” commenting on Acting Public Prosecutor Jamal Hajjar’s decision to dismiss Ghada Aoun, the Public Prosecutor at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal, from the cases she was working on. This was on the grounds that her behavior did not conform to the rules of the profession. He said that they will not be silenced – a normal reaction on his part since he was the main person benefiting from Ghada Aoun’s violations of the law.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati sent a memorandum on Friday to all ministries, administrations and services asking them to comply with Judge Hajjar’s instructions. These instructions forbade the various security services from communicating with Ghada Aoun or carrying out her orders, asking them to refer henceforth to the Advocate General at the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal.
