Jumblatt backs FPM-LF dialogue, Abu Faour says

BEIRUT: MP Walid Jumblatt supports the ongoing dialogue between the Lebanese Forces and their political rivals the Free Patriotic Movement, Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said Friday, following a meeting with FPM leader Michel Aoun.

“We hope that dialogue, whether between the FPM and the Lebanese Forces, or Hezbollah and the Future Movement, will lead to positive outcomes and, at the very least, result in agreements that will protect Lebanon during this period and lead to ... a presidential election,” Abu Faour told reporters after visiting Aoun at his Rabieh residence.

“MP Walid Jumblatt is keen to consult Gen. Aoun on all matters, especially given that bilateral relations are currently moving in a positive [direction]. We are adamant on preserving and upholding [this progress],” Abu Faour added.

FPM sources told The Daily Star that Abu Faour assured Aoun that Jumblatt did not oppose dialogue between the Maronite leaders.

The Progressive Socialist Party chief would welcome any agreement between LF leader Samir Geagea and Aoun, as this would contribute to the increasing political stability facilitated by the ongoing talks between the Future Movement and Hezbollah, Abu Faour told the FPM leader.

The minister’s visit was apparently intended to clarify Jumblatt’s stance, as just days earlier he stated that the issue of the presidential election should not be the monopoly of Christian parties.

Abu Faour told Aoun that Jumblatt believed the presidential election had a national dimension, as although the president must be a Christian, he must represent all the Lebanese people.

Negotiations for a meeting between Aoun and Geagea have been in the works for over two months, with MP Ibrahim Kanaan, from Aoun’s bloc, and Milhem Riyashi, head of the LF’s media and communication section, holding preparatory talks.

Sources said the presidential deadlock was at the core of discussions between Kanaan and Riyashi, adding that the anticipated meeting between Aoun and Geagea would broach this issue as well. They also predicted that the meeting could facilitate the election of a president.

But other political sources familiar with the presidential election said that even if Geagea backed Aoun’s presidential bid, he would not necessarily be elected to the top post.

The sources claimed that since Lebanon’s independence, it was the votes cast by Muslim MPs that had determined the victory or defeat of Christian presidential candidates, adding that regional and international powers often have a say as well.

Hezbollah deputy head Sheikh Naim Qassem said Friday that his party and the Future Movement were serious about achieving rapprochement through their own dialogue, which he claimed had already succeeded in easing sectarian tensions.

“Dialogue between Future and Hezbollah is good, positive, and useful,” Qassem said, speaking at the graduation ceremony of a party-affiliated institute. “Both groups have decided to continue the dialogue and to ignore the comments of those ... who do not want them to continue.”