Relations between resigning MPs of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the party leadership under MP Gebran Bassil are on the brink of total estrangement, following MP Ibrahim Kanaan’s public criticism of the party’s policies and performance.
Bassil has reportedly asked the quitting MPs to resign from the parliamentary committees they are heading or in which they are members, on the grounds that they were nominated as representatives of the FPM which they no longer represent and that they should be replaced by other FPM parliamentarians.
Speaker Nabih Berri has reportedly commented on the subject, saying, “Tell Bassil to forget about the matter,” stressing that party quotas apply in the government, not in parliamentary committees.
Kanaan is the president of the Parliament’s Finance Committee, whereas Simon Abi Ramia heads the Youth and Sports Committee, and Alain Aoun is a member of the Parliament’s Bureau. As for Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab, though he was allied with the FPM, he is not a member, and was elected to his post by the members of the chamber.
It will be recalled that the election of members of the parliamentary committees and Parliament Bureau takes place annually on the first Tuesday after October 15, in other words, in just over one month.
