FPM, LF to Attend Legislative Session after 'Comprehensive Agreement' Reached

Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced Wednesday that their parliamentary blocs will take part in a much-anticipated legislative session scheduled for Thursday and Friday after a political "settlement" was reached over the controversial issues.

“Today is a happy day. All disputes over the agenda of tomorrow's parliamentary session have been resolved and a comprehensive agreement has been reached over them – the nationality law, the municipalities law, the electoral law and other minor issues,” Aoun declared at a press conference.

“We will attend tomorrow's session to approve the proposed draft laws, especially those related to international agreements and loans,” Aoun added.

“Congratulations to the Lebanese and we hope there will always be cooperation,” he said.

Aoun's announcement came shortly after Change and Reform bloc secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan visited Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain al-Tineh.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea congratulated the Lebanese people over the settlement that was reached, hailing “the cooperation between the LF and the Free Patriotic Movement.”

“Former premier Saad Hariri rescued the situation through the agreement that was reached between us and al-Mustaqbal movement after the agreement between us and the FPM,” Geagea said, lauding Hariri over his stance.

“We held contacts with the FPM and the rest of the blocs to put the renaturalization law and the electoral law on the agenda,” he said.

“From the very first moment, we did not have a problem with the financial issues, the problem was in the electoral and nationality laws,” Geagea pointed out.

Noting that “national partnership comes before anything else,” the LF leader declared that the day “witnessed a victory for everyone.”

Earlier, Hariri announced that Mustaqbal will take part in the legislative session due to the pressing nature of the financial draft laws, vowing that “after Thursday's session, the movement will not attend any legislative session that will not be aimed at addressing the parliamentary electoral draft-law.”

Later on Wednesday, Aoun and Geagea telephoned Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to “brief him on the outcome of the consultations that were made over tomorrow's legislative session,” state-run National News Agency said.

Their delegates -- MP Kanaan and LF media officer Melhem Riachi -- also visited the patriarch to “put him in the picture of the latest developments regarding the legislative session.”

Earlier, lawmakers who met with Berri asserted that the session will be held “because there are pressing financial issues that need to be addressed.”

Tensions had peaked between Christian parties who had threatened to boycott the legislative session and other political blocs who announced that they will attend it, raising fears over its potential postponement.

Berri had justified his decision to exclude the draft electoral law from the legislative session's agenda, saying that this issue “needs a national agreement that does not exist.”

The legislative session is scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

The Christian blocs of the LF and the FPM had warned that they would not attend the meeting over the failure to include the electoral draft-law on the agenda.

The Kataeb Party has announced that it will not attend the session due to the ongoing presidential vacuum.

The dispute over the electoral law dates back to 2013 when the political parties failed to agree on a new one, resulting in parliament extending its own term and postponing the elections.

Parliament again extended its term last year over the same dispute.

Y.R.