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Bassil says would run for presidency if candidates are 'bad'

Free Patriotic Movement Jebran Bassil would run for presidency if he finds that the chosen candidate is "a bad president."

"I will not accept to have a bad president and in that case of course I would run," Jebran said in a press interview, as he reiterated that his party is trying to reach a solution and a consensual candidate who would be able to make reforms.

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3 arrested in Bekaa over $1 million swiped from Mt. Lebanon home

Police in Lebanon, where a banking crisis has forced people to stash cash at home, said Friday that three people have been arrested after stealing over $1 million from a private residence.

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Report: France to support presidential candidate agreed-upon by Bassil, al-Rahi

France and Qatar are coordinating with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil over the presidential file and other topics, al-Akhbar newspaper said.

The daily elaborated Friday that France would support a presidential candidate that Bassil and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi would agree upon without announcing his name, within a framework that guarantees an exit from the political and economic crisis.

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Report: Bassil leaked audio after failed 'presidential deal' with Berri

Free Patriotic Movement Jebran Bassil had met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, days before a leaked audio of Bassil speaking in Paris infuriated the speaker, media reports said.

Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Friday that the meeting happened away from the media, after Bassil contacted the Charge d'Affaires at the Embassy of Lebanon in Qatar, Farah Berri, and asked her to arrange a meeting between him and Berri.

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Bassil: We hope to find an extended hand because we are really seeking a solution

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil did not run for presidency because he did not want to further complicate things, he told France 24 in a televised interview.

Bassil said Thursday that he opposes that Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh becomes a president because he does not agree with him on the same political program regarding reforms and building the state.

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Bassil slams Franjieh, says there can be no president without FPM

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has stressed that the FPM will not endorse the presidential nomination of Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh, even if all other parties agree on him.

“The FPM would not lose if Suleiman Franjieh becomes president… and he does not represent a threat to us,” Bassil is heard telling supporters in a leaked audio recorded during his ongoing visit to Paris.

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Berri says 1990 troika better than 'Aoun-Bassil-Jreissati' era

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's press office said Thursday that the situation in 1990 was better than the Aoun-Bassil-Jreissati era of the past six years.

Bassil had said in a leaked audio from Paris that electing Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh as a president will bring Lebanon back to the nineties.

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Constitutional Council rejects appeals against Khazen, Frem, Alameh

The Constitutional Council on Thursday dismissed two more electoral appeals filed over the results of the May 15 parliamentary elections.

The first appeal had been filed by the candidate Wassef al-Harakeh against MP Fadi Alameh over the Shiite seat in Baabda.

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Presidential deadlock: Vacuum wins again in stormy session

"It's a complete deadlock," change lawmaker Mark Daou told AFP, after parliament failed Thursday to elect a president for the sixth time. "We will not have a president before next year."

Lawmaker Michel Mouawad, who is seen as close to the United States, won the support of 43 of parliament's 128 MPs. But his tally was outnumbered by the 45 blank ballots cast by pro-Hezbollah lawmakers and fell well short of the margin needed for victory.

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Report: Paris seeking to convince Bassil with presidential settlement

French officials are seeking to reach “an urgent presidential settlement” in Lebanon “before the end of the year,” sources informed on Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil’s visit to Paris have said.

“Accordingly, it was necessary to try to convince Bassil with endorsing it, seeing as he represents the biggest obstacle in the way of the election of a new president,” the sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper in remarks published Thursday.

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