Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil in Baabda on Jan. 12, 2022. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil and Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian held a "frank and very friendly" meeting Tuesday at Dar al-Fatwa, the country's top Sunni religious authority, Bassil tweeted. The meeting comes amid tensions between various political figures over the long overdue formation of a new cabinet.
Tuesday's meeting between Derian and Bassil's FPM delegation comes after Derian gathered together Sunni representatives from across the political spectrum on Saturday at Dar al-Fatwa, where he warned against “any encroachment upon the prerogatives of the prime minister." The statement was seen by observers as a thinly veiled criticism of President Michel Aoun.
Relations between Aoun, a Maronite (and FPM founder), and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni, have become strained in recent months due to a tug-of-war over the formation of the new cabinet. Aoun, whose term expires on Oct. 31, refuses to cede his powers to a caretaker government. Mikati, meanwhile, has refused to add six political ministers of state to his team as Aoun has demanded. Negotiations have stalled.
At the end of the meeting on Tuesday in Dar al-Fatwa, Bassil stated that FPM and Derian are on common ground “regarding the constitution and the Taif Agreement, which we adhere to in terms of decentralization, the establishment of a senate and the abolition of sectarianism.” The Taif Agreement was reached in 1989 as part of the effort to end the Lebanese Civil War.
Bassil added that “Lebanon's interest is to live in peace in its Arab surroundings, and Lebanon has no interest in external interference in order to preserve its sovereignty and independence.”
On the issue of the presidential election, now scheduled for Thursday, Bassil stated that "the [presidential] vacuum would be deadly for Lebanon,” and stressed the "importance of the formation of the government.”