Bkirki: No LF, FPM Meeting Has Been Scheduled due to High Tensions

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi's envoy Bishop Samir Mazloum lamented the eruption of the dispute between the Christian Free Patriotic Movement and Lebanese Forces over the parliamentary electoral law, urging calm to resolve their differences, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper Saturday.

He told the daily: “A meeting between the two sides has not been scheduled due to the high tensions between them.”

The dispute erupted between the two parties after the FPM accused the LF of abandoning the Orthodox Gathering parliamentary electoral law, which it had previously agreed to at the joint parliamentary committees along with the FPM, Marada Movement, and Phalange Party.

The LF had justified its decision to refrain from endorsing the proposal during a recent parliamentary session, aimed at voting on the draft law, to the inability to implement the suggestion.

LF chief Samir Geagea had said that it became clear to the party over time that the draft law would be impossible to implement due to the opposition to it by President Michel Suleiman, caretaker Premier Najib Miqati, MP Walid Jumblat's National Struggle Front, and independent Christian March 14 lawmakers.

The FPM has meanwhile held the LF responsible for parliament's failure to approve the law, with caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil saying Thursday that the LF placed “personal interests above public ones by choosing March 14 camp instead of the country and by choosing Mustaqbal bloc over Christians.”

At the moment of truth, they (the LF and Mustaqbal) announced another law and wasted the chance to offer Christians fair representation, he commented.

“We lost Christian unity. We temporarily lost 64 seats, and we lost a real chance to organize the Christian arena and end the dispersion caused by some parasites and feudal lords,” he said.

The LF, Mustaqbal, and National Struggle Front announced on Tuesday an agreement over a hybrid proposal that calls for 54 MPs to be elected under the winner-takes-all system and 46 percent via the proportional representation system.

The Phalange Party, of the March 14 alliance, did not endorse the law.

The Orthodox Gathering law considers Lebanon a single district and stipulates that each sect elects its own MPs under on a proportional representation system, is strongly backed by Hizbullah and the FPM.

Mazloum meanwhile told al-Joumhouria that the proposal endorsed by the LF, Mustaqbal, and National Struggle Front grants Christians no more than 50 MPs.

He revealed that Bkirki was surprised by the agreement, criticizing the LF for failing to consult it and other Christian parties over its decision.

He also criticized the FPM for “overreacting” to the LF's position, saying that the party was subject to “vulgar accusations of treason.”

Moreover, Mazloum said that Bkirki itself had agreed months ago to suspend the agreement over the Orthodox Gathering proposal after it realized that it would not be adopted given the opposition to it.

This was followed by a period of consultations held between the LF and its allies and the LF and the FPM under the watchful eye of Bkirki, he added.

The consultations however came to a halt with the LF's agreement with the Mustaqbal and National Struggle Front over the hybrid law, he said.