LF Responding to Bassil: Followers Are Those Who Abandon National Principles

The Lebanese Forces criticized on Tuesday Energy Minister Jebran Bassil for his accusations that the LF and the Phalange Party had reneged on the decisions reached at Bkirki on an electoral draft-law to satisfy al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat.

It said in a statement: “Followers are those who abandon national principles.”

“Bassil used his interview in al-Akhbar newspaper in order to make accusations and fabrications for electoral gains and improve his deteriorating image before the public,” it added.

“The Free Patriotic Movement was the first side to praise the 1960 electoral law that was reached during the 2008 Doha accord and therefore, Bassil’s latest comments, which he claims are in the Christians’ interests, are only a desperate attempt to distort the electoral facts before the Christian voters,” it continued.

“The electoral law that the government recently elected caters to the March 8 camp’s needs and it was never aimed at reaching fair Christian representation,” said the LF statement.

“It instead sought to nullify the role of Christian votes in the Akkar, Jezzine, and Ashrafiyeh districts through expanding the Akkar district to include al-Minieh and Dinniyeh, expanding Jezzine to include Tyer and al-Zahrani, and Ashrafiyeh to include al-Bashoura,” it explained.

The new electoral law claims to guarantee the election of 49 Christian MPs, while the agreement reached by the March 14 forces ensures that 56 Christian MPs are elected, making it more just, it stated.

The March 14 proposal called for the adoption of small electoral circles, which include no more than three electoral seats.

“The one who truly reneged on the Bkirki meetings are those who not only reneged on Bkirki’s national principles, but the history of his movement itself,” said the Lebanese Forces statement.

“That person reneged on the slogans and political program of that party and encouraged Hizbullah to distort the Christian environment in Lebanon,” it continued.

“Those who like to act as followers have abandoned their national and sovereign principles in favor of financial gain,” it noted.

Followers are not those who chose to go to prison in defense of their principles and values, it said in reference to LF chief Samir Geagea’s imprisonment from 1994 to 2005, but those who chose to remain in “the prison of the Syrian regime’s hegemony and have adopted the convictions of others.”

“Those warning Christians of the rule of the Caliphate have thrown themselves in the fold of the Velayat e-Faqih,” it added.

“Jebran Bassil, who is now shedding crocodile tears over the fate of Christians in light of the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab Spring, is the same person who was the first to praise the Egyptian revolution before altering his position when he realized that that revolt will not stop at the Nile River but reach the Syrian regime,” it concluded.

In an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper, Bassil said a draft law approved by the government “guarantees the right representation and does not eliminate any Christian.”

“Why this rejection then?” Bassil wondered after the LF and Phalange criticized the draft-law for allegedly not being in conformity with the decisions reached by the Bkirki committee.

The committee that is made up of the four major Christian parties – the Free Patriotic Movement, the LF, and the Phalange Party and Marada Movement - was formed under Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to draft a law that guarantees the best representation for Christians.