Leader of the Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — The Free Patriotic Movement said in a statement after its weekly meeting on Wednesday that it is continuing to negotiate with the "opposition" — the term it uses to refer to the parties opposed to Hezbollah and its allies — to try to find a compromise regarding the presidential election.
"The FPM continues to dialogue with the opposition blocs in order to find a candidate that unites everyone and that is not considered provocative by anyone," the statement read.
The party also, according to the statement, insists on the "need to elect a president, in agreement with all members, to have a head of state capable of implementing the necessary reforms and to fight, as a priority, against corruption."
The head of FPM Gebran Bassil who's on a recent tour in Italy, the Vatican and France is now calling on the opposition to agree with him on a candidate who falls under his parliamentary group, hoping to offer an alternative to the candidate of Hezbollah and the Amal movement, the leader of the party Marada Sleiman Frangieh. FPM is strongly opposed to a Frangieh candidacy, a position that strained its relation with ally Hezbollah.
Recently, Bassil has positioned his party as sitting half-way between the Mumanaa axis (including Hezbollah) and the "opposition."
After talks of negotiations between the FPM and opposition parties, including the Lebanese Forces, statements made over the weekend on MTV by FPM MP Alain Aoun hinted at a change in the party's direction, when he said that the Aounists wanted to agree with the opposition "on a figure from the Strong Lebanon group" (mostly composed of the FPM).
In the ranks of the opposition, no single candidate has yet emerged due to the lack of agreement.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since the end of Michel Aoun's mandate on Oct. 31. The Parliament has still not succeeded in electing a president due to a lack of political consensus.