Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Gebran Bassil. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) head Gebran Bassil on Sunday called Syria's return to the Arab League a "victory," adding that Lebanon has "contributed politically" to the consequential move.
“What happened today [Sunday] with the return of Syria to the Arab League is a victory in which we contributed, as Lebanese," Bassil said in an interview with Lebanese channel LBC. "We contributed to it politically, by striving to avoid a fragmentation of the Syrian society that would have impacted us."
Arab League foreign ministers adopted a decision Sunday to readmit Syria after more than a decade of suspension, a spokesperson for the League said, consolidating a regional push to normalize ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The decision was taken at a closed meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo, said Gamal Roshdy, spokesman for the Arab League's secretary-general.
Bassil said that there are positive political steps for consolidation being taken in the region, and stated that Lebanon should benefit from them. “Lebanon should be an essential part of the reconstruction of Syria," he said.
“There is a new atmosphere in the region based on competition for growth and development instead of conflicts... Doesn't Lebanon want to be a part of it?” Bassil added.
Lebanese presidency
Regarding the presidential election, stalled since last October, Bassil said that Hezbollah did not impose a candidate for the presidency on FPM, noting that that is not the basis of his party's relationship with Hezbollah. "We do not talk to each other in this manner,” he said.
“Today, there are three parties when it comes to the presidency: that of the mumanaa [a term sometimes used by Hezbollah opponents to refer to the party] which announced the candidacy of Sleiman Frangieh, that of the confrontation, with its tacit candidate, army commander-in-chief Joseph Aoun, and the third one includes us, some Forces of Change MPs, independents and the Progressive Socialist Party,” Bassil said.
“No party can elect a president on its own and if two parties gather together, they will need the third one to ensure the quorum” requested to hold the parliamentary electoral session and elect the future head of state. “Even if the third party is not needed, a president elected this way won't succeed,” Bassil added.
“Our main disagreement with the two other factions in Lebanon is that any president who comes from the two other sides, if he has no platform, will fail and the solution will fail,” he said.
Lebanon has had no president since Nov. 1, and its cabinet has been serving in a caretaker capacity since legislative elections a year ago.
Hezbollah and the Amal Movement recently announced their official support for the presidential candidacy of Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh, but the opposing camp remains divided.
Many observers believe France is promoting a tradeoff between the election of Frangieh and the appointment of Nawaf Salam — former Lebanese ambassador to the UN and current judge at the International Court of Justice — as prime minister.
Paris has denied this claim, saying it "does not have a candidate in Lebanon."
As for Saudi Arabia, some observers said they are opposed to a Frangieh presidency. But Riyadh lately said through its ambassador in Lebanon Waleed al-Bukhari, that it "doesn't veto" any candidate, as long as they gain the confidence of the Lebanese.