Bassil, FPM Hit Back at Geagea over 'President Share' Remarks

The Free Patriotic Movement and its chief Jebran Bassil snapped back Thursday at Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea over remarks he made about President Michel Aoun's share of seats in the new government.

“Personal and collective political suicide is when a person harms himself, his brother and his community for the sake of political ministerial gains and a transient political moment,” Bassil tweeted.

He also accused Geagea of “renouncing” the president's “jurisdiction,” the country's political “norms” and the FPM-LF agreement “while calling this support for the presidency.”

The FPM meanwhile issued a statement warning that depriving the president of an independent ministerial share would “weaken the presidency and its position in the executive authority regardless of the president's identity.”

The movement also reminded Geagea that the president's independent share was mentioned in the now-suspended Maarab agreement between the two parties.

“We ask the LF's chief if this is how the president and his jurisdiction and tenure can be supported, while noting that any current concession would not only affect this presidential term but also the future presidential terms,” the FPM added.

Geagea had explained in a TV interview on Wednesday evening that “the FPM has 17 or 18 MPs, while the Strong Lebanon bloc (29 MPs including those of the FPM) is the bloc of the new presidential tenure and accordingly its share includes the FPM's and that of the presidency combined.”