Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh has stressed that he “will not conspire against the resistance nor against its rivals and enemies,” days after Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah openly announced that his party wants a president for Lebanon who “would reassure the resistance.”

“I’m ready for all possibilities. For the presidency and for failure to reach it. Others are fighting over it today as if it is a lottery prize whereas in fact it is a real ball of fire,” al-Akhbar newspaper quoted Franjieh as telling sources informed on his stance.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil's office said Friday in a statement that a meeting he had with Speaker Nabih Berri was not behind Hezbollah's back.

Al-Jadeed TV had reported Friday that Bassil had tried and failed to make a presidential deal with Berri in a meeting on Tuesday.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.