Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil is received by Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai in Bkirki, June 9, 2024. (Credit: NNA)
"We wanted to launch this activity from Bkirki," Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Gebran Bassil said on Sunday, announcing an initiative to end the deadlock in Lebanon's efforts to elect a new president. Lebanon has been without a head of state since the end of Bassil's father-in-law Michel Aoun's six-year-term as president in October 2022.
Bassil's comments come after France's special envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian's meetings with Lebanon's main political figures last month failed to break the deadlock, and as the National Moderation parliamentary bloc and Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Taymour Joumblatt also launch initiatives to engage the various parties in dialogue to resolve the political crisis.
Following a meeting with the head of the Maronite church, Bechara al-Rai, Bassil said he had "insisted on the need to reach agreement on a consensual president and on the two fundamental conditions he must meet: building the state and protecting Lebanon."
"What I ask is that open parliamentary sessions be ensured and that we agree on a name," Bassil added, noting that "if it is guaranteed that successive rounds of voting will take place, a president will be elected."
To date, Parliament has made 12 unsuccessful attempts to elect a new president — the most recent of them almost a year ago. A presidential candidate needs a two-thirds majority of votes in Lebanon's 128-member Parliament in order to be deemed elected on a first-round vote; however, in subsequent rounds of voting, a candidate only needs to garner a simple majority to be elected. To date, the Lebanese Parliament's attempts to elect Aoun's successor have not made it to a second round of voting due to MPs walking out after the first round and the chamber losing quorum as a result. At each new electoral session, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri restarts with a first-round vote — a decision several legal experts consider a violation of the constitution, saying the electoral session should remain open so that when Parliament reconvenes, a candidate needs only to secure a simple majority to be elected.
Contacts with all parties
The leader of the FPM also called on "the forces concerned, particularly the Christians, to agree on possible options."
"If we want to move towards a process of consultation and agreement, we'd better get along. The FPM will contact all parliamentarians [groups and elected representatives]," he said.
Bassil added, "We have set a schedule of meetings and have a specific roadmap. If we follow it, we'll have a serious opportunity to move towards effective electoral sessions."
Earlier in the day, Rai had insisted on the need to elect a president. In his Sunday homily, he said that "the election of a head of state is the only guarantee of the unity of the people and will enable Parliament to regain its legislative power."
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.