Lebanon: Gebran Bassil Announces Preliminary Presidential Agreement with Hezbollah

Head of Free Patriotic Movement Gebran Bassil announced on Tuesday that his political bloc has reached a preliminary agreement with Hezbollah regarding the presidential elections.

In a press conference, Bassil said that the agreement is based on a consensual process to facilitate the nomination and vote in return for a number of “national” demands.

Bassil said that his movement has set approving the decentralization and a deposit fund as a condition for facilitating the elections.

However, Bassil said that the talks with Hezbollah are still in need of a long time in order to reach the intended result, calling on the French envoy to speed up his presidential initiative in order to avoid wasting more time.

The French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian visited Beirut on July 25 and met with the chiefs of the key political blocs in Lebanon in order to enhance the presidential elections.