Next move: FPM might boycott legislative sessions

Hezbollah MPs are seriously leaning towards voting for Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh in the upcoming presidential vote session, a senior politician said.

The source told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Wednesday, that this is what sparked the Free Patriotic Movement's reaction to the caretaker cabinet session that took place on Monday despite being boycotted by the FPM.

The FPM leader, Jebran Bassil responded by boycotting the session and lashing out at Hezbollah in a fiery statement.

Bassil, after being informed about Hezbollah's inclination, is telling everyone that no settlement can bypass the FPM, the source said.

But Hezbollah has given directions to all its members, MPs and ministers, not to escalate or respond, in order to protect the Mar Mikhail understanding, media reports said.

The source added that the FPM will seek to subject the understanding to a comprehensive re-evaluation or else it will "rebel" against it.

Another report in al-Akhbar newspaper said that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri considered that the situation can be contained, calling for calm. It added that Hezbollah will wait for things to cool down before trying to mend the rift with the FPM.

The report said that the FPM might try to appeal against the decisions taken by the cabinet during Monday's session, and that it will mainly respond in parliament by joining the Christian forces who oppose legislative sessions before electing a president.

By doing so, the FPM will paralyze parliament and send a message that it can suspend the work of both parliament and cabinet, whenever it wants to.