Bassil: There Won't be New President, Electoral Law without Respecting National Pact

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has warned that the country cannot have a new president or a new electoral law if the political parties do not respect the National Pact.

“Without respecting the National Pact, there can't be a premiership and there can't be a government. There can't be (administrative and military) appointments and there can't be an electoral law. There can't be a parliament and there can't be a parliament speaker. There can't be a republic and there can't be a president for the republic,” Bassil cautioned during an FPM ceremony.

“The FPM's cause today is to preserve the National Pact. This issue concerns both Christians and Muslims but today we are the targeted ones,” he added.

The 1943 National Pact is an unwritten agreement that set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state based on Christian-Muslim partnership.

“We want freedom and national unity together but let no one try to enslave us under the excuse of our national unity. We want to live free,” Bassil went on to say.

“Our 'Lebanese marriage' is a Maronite one... but even Maronites have permitted divorce should the purposes of marriage cease to exist. The National Pact is the basis of our 'marriage,'” Bassil added, referring to Christian-Muslim partnership.

The FPM, which has the biggest Christian bloc in parliament, has suspended its participation in cabinet sessions and national dialogue meetings over accusations that other parties in the country are not respecting the National Pact.

The FPM's boycott of cabinet meetings was initially linked to the thorny issue of military and security appointments. The movement has long voiced reservations over the government's decision-taking mechanism in the absence of a president.

Addressing Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Bassil had recently said that “the son of late PM Saeb Salam must pay great attention when he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when it convenes in the presence of ministers representing only six percent of a main component of the country (Christians).”

Bassil has also warned that the country might be soon plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.”

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh hit back at Bassil last Monday, saying Marada and the other Christian parties in the cabinet “represent a lot more than six percent.”