Bassil urges 'consensual' president who would 'build state, protect Lebanon'

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has kicked off an initiative related to the presidential vote by meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

“We are carrying out an effort to agree on a consensual president based on two conditions: building the state and protecting Lebanon, and these individuals are present if we truly want to elect a president,” Bassil said after the meeting.

“If there is a guaranteed result from the issue of successive sessions and rounds, we must facilitate rather than obstruct,” he added.

“There are two camps that are forestalling and the excuses must be withdrawn,” Bassil went on to say.

He added that the FPM will communicate with all parties in order to “propose a paper with specific ideas.”

“Should we commit to it, we will have a serious chance for real electoral sessions,” he said.

Warning that “a more dangerous norm would be taking presidential vacuum lightly,” Bassil noted that “democratic competition remains better than vacuum,” while calling for “separating the presidential file from any other foreigh or domestic factor.”