Bassil says would vote for Franjieh in return for decentralization, trust fund
An ongoing dialogue between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement is progressing positively, the FPM chief said.
Jebran Bassil revealed, in an interview published Tuesday in al-Modon news portal, that Hezbollah's feedback on a reform paper proposed by the FPM was "positive", which paved the way for completing the discussions.
The reform paper mainly proposes the implementation of the broad administrative and financial decentralization law and the trust fund law.
In a televised speech Monday, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that Hezbollah's answers regarding the presidential priorities that the FPM has proposed are ready.
"We are in a serious and profound dialogue that needs some time,” he revealed, after he described the talks as “the only open dialogue in the country which can be relied on.”
Hezbollah and the FPM's dialogue came after almost one year of tensions over Hezbollah's nomination of Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh for presidency and the participation of its ministers in cabinet sessions boycotted by the FPM.
Bassil had said that he is "willing to sacrifice" regarding the next president's identity in return for "two gains for Lebanon: broad administrative and financial decentralization and the trust fund."
"If Hezbollah commits to passing these two laws and to give legal and legislative guarantees for their implementation, I wouldn't mind voting for Franjieh," Bassil told al-Modon. "I will vote for him in return for that, and I will bear all costs, because I know that what will be achieved in return is much greater and more important."
Source: Naharnet
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