FPM hoping to agree with Hezbollah on 'third candidate'

The Free Patriotic Movement is hoping to agree with Hezbollah on a presidential candidate other than Suleiman Franjieh or Jihad Azour, an FPM MP said.

“Dialogue means an intention to meet with the other over something that satisfies both parties, and therefore agreeing on a third candidate,” MP Cesar Abi Khalil told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, after the two parties announced that they have resumed dialogue.

“The resumption of the dialogue with Hezbollah comes without preconditions and it is not over a certain candidate, but rather over a program and over a figure which would not be provocative to any party,” the lawmaker added.

Pro-Hezbollah political analyst Qassem Qassir meanwhile told Asharq al-Awsat that “the resumption of dialogue between the FPM and Hezbollah took place through an agreement on a new vision based on proposing a host of names, including Franjieh, for discussion.”