Minister Bassil: May 15th was a setback

Caretaker Energy and Water Minister Gebran Bassil said on Thursday that the Taif Agreement was a “catastrophe” that affected the Christians, noting that the Free Patriotic Movement raised the number of parliamentary seats elected by the Christians to 19 in 2009, while there were no Christian blocs before 2005.           

During a press conference, Bassil pointed out that the situation of the Christians in the government has improved "thanks to efforts deployed by the Free Patriotic Movement," stating on the other hand that the latest strike came from "those closest," in reference to the Lebanese Forces.             

“Wednesday May 15th was a setback following the catastrophe of the Taif Agreement,” Bassil declared.

Minister Bassil added that his bloc chose "the unity of Christians" above all other allegiances, including the one with Hezbollah, stressing that the Orthodox Gathering draft law is the only project which garnered the approval of the majority of the Christian parties.           

In this context, Bassil recalled the Christian consensus reached at Bkerke over the electoral law, stressing that Muslim parties failed at reaching a similar agreement over a new proposal.           

“The Orthodox draft law is the most constitutional among the other proposals,” Bassil asserted.           

Commenting on those who did not support the Orthodox proposal, in reference to the Lebanese Forces, Bassil said that “they preferred "February 14th" over the interest of the nation and the Future boc over the Christians; 'they also preferred 45 deputies rather than 64 to be elected by the Christians'.”                 

In his concluding remarks, Bassil expressed gratitude to Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the Tashnag party and the Muslims including Sunnis, Shiites and Druze for standing by the cause of the FPM and the Christians, stressing that the developments of May 15th eliminated any possibility of holding the elections.