Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Abdul-Latif Derian, received at Dar Al Fatwa on Tuesday the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, accompanied by a parliamentary delegation. On emerging, MP Bassil said: ‘Today we were honored to visit His Eminence the Mufti of the Republic, first to congratulate him, and secondly to express our well-wishes…It was an occasion to discuss the situation in the country, and to emphasize many matters that are fully agreed upon…” He added: ‘We reaffirm that this country is a country of partnership, and in order to change said partnership under any circumstance, all the Lebanese must be in consensus, taking into account the balanced partnership…We are now at the stage of the presidential entitlement, alongside other entitlements, and every attempt to exclude one of the Lebanese parties is a violation of the constitution, the charter, and the spirit of coexistence.” Bassil regretted the missed opportunity and the wasted time currently happening in the country in
regard to the presidential vacuum. ‘The issue of the presidency of the republic has no solution except through understanding and balanced partnership, as we previously mentioned, and understanding naturally requires dialogue, which we have always advocated…But in order for dialogue to be useful and reach an outcome, we emphasized to His Eminence that dialogue has its conditions, and in order to achieve its success, it must, for instance, be held around a round table and allow for bilateral and tripartite consultations, which lead to the election of a president according to broad lines, agreed upon by the Lebanese, whether in terms of personality or specifications and the program that he pledges to implement,” underlined Bassil. He went on to stress that “His Eminence the Mufti affirmed, and so did we, our adherence to the constitution which emerged from the Taif Agreement, because the spirit of partnership and its concept are embodied in its content and meaning, and whoever seeks to tamper with the Taif act
ually violates the constitution…” Bassil considered that in order to preserve the Taif Accord, it must be properly implemented, in terms of having a senate, a civil state, the abolition of sectarianism, and far-reaching decentralization. ‘We also discussed the issue of the trust fund that achieves national development and prosperity for this country,” the FPM Chief went on, noting that they will remain in continuous consultation with the Mufti of the Republic, praising his national stances that unite all the Lebanese. Bassil hoped that the Lebanese could all join hands together to pass the presidential entitlement, either through unanimous understanding or with the approval of the majority. “If we cannot reach an agreement, let us go and vote for a president at the Parliament Council, and let whoever win…” he underscored.
Source: National News Agency-Lebanon