Bassil: If I Were a Compromise Presidential Candidate, then so is Aoun

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil stressed that he belongs to the Free Patriotic Movement of MP Michel Aoun, meaning that should he be considered to be a compromise presidential candidate, then so should the lawmaker, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anba newspaper on Sunday.

He told the daily: “What is applied to me should also be applied to him.”

He also did not confirm or deny whether he will run as a consensual presidential candidate.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May.

The March 14 alliance has voiced its backing of candidate Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat proposed the nomination of candidate Henri Helou, while the March 8 camp has yet to announce its candidate.

Aoun, who has not declared his nomination, has repeatedly said that he would run in the elections is there was agreement over him.

Several elections sessions have been held, but they were not staged due to a lack of quorum at parliament over a boycott by the Hizbullah and Change and Reform blocks over the disagreement over a consensual president.

Geagea accused the March 8 camp of adopting the boycott to blackmail political powers into electing Aoun president.

Commenting on the state of the Lebanese-Syrian borders and flow of gunmen to and from either side, Bassil said: “The borders are not under control.”

“The borders are being violated by land, air, and sea by Israel in the South, while the activity of gunmen on the Syrian side has resulted almost in the occupation of a Lebanese town,” he said in reference to the recent clashes between the army and Islamist militants in the northeastern border town of Arsal.

The borders need to be controlled by legitimate Lebanese and Syrian forces in order to ensure the security of both countries' independence, explained the foreign minister.