Bou Saab Says FPM Keen on Healing Franjieh Rift, Describes Hariri as 'Best Partner'

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab has stressed that the FPM is keen on restoring good ties with Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh, as he described al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri as “the strongest and best partner for us in Lebanon.”

“We have not erred against Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh and we are keen on restoring the relation. Our problem was not a personal problem with Franjieh but rather a problem of a country and lack of partnership,” Bou Saab said.

“The problem we are facing is that they are telling us that a minister whose political leadership is al-Mustaqbal Movement” can secure Christian representation in cabinet sessions in a manner that respects the National Pact, the minister added.

“We want real partnership and (Foreign) Minister (Jebran) Bassil is being attacked because he represents the FPM,” Bou Saab said.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.

Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Turning to Hariri, Bou Saab described the former premier as “the strongest and best partner for us in Lebanon.”

“The alternative to him is the unknown and we hope he will play his role accordingly and we are open to any solution that might be proposed,” Bou Saab went on to say.

As for the paralyzed government, the minister stressed that “the FPM is not to blame for the governmental paralysis.”

“The provocations that are taking place in cabinet sessions are the things that are crippling it,” he claimed.

Bou Saab also noted that the FPM had not asked its ally Hizbullah to boycott the cabinet session that was held on Thursday.

“We have a partnership of trust,” he said.

The FPM, which has the biggest Christian bloc in parliament, has suspended its participation in cabinet sessions and national dialogue meetings over accusations that other parties in the country are not respecting the National Pact.

The 1943 National Pact is an unwritten agreement that set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state based on Christian-Muslim partnership.

The FPM's boycott of cabinet meetings was initially linked to the thorny issue of military and security appointments. The movement has long voiced reservations over the government's decision-taking mechanism in the absence of a president.

Addressing Prime Minister Tammam Salam, FPM chief Bassil has recently said that “the son of late PM Saeb Salam must pay great attention when he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when it convenes in the presence of ministers representing only six percent of a main component of the country (Christians).”

Bassil has also warned that the country might be soon plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.”

Franjieh hit back at Bassil on Monday, saying Marada and the other Christian parties in the cabinet “represent a lot more than six percent.”