The Free Patriotic Movement headed by Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil will after the upcoming parliamentary elections change the name of its bloc from “Change and Reform” to “Lubnan Al Qawi” (Strong Lebanon).
It will will include political forces and figures supporting the era of President Michel Aoun and will produce a bloc in parliament and another in the new government.
According to FPM officials, the bloc will include all deputies who had run for the May 6 elections on the party’s lists.
“Our alliance will be based on their support to the reform operation and fight against corruption,” they said, adding that the party could differ with some candidates on strategic issues.
FPM leading figure and a candidate in the Chouf-Aley district, Mario Aoun told Asharq Al-Awsat that the party’s leadership received a verbal pledge from all candidates running in the elections on the FPM list to become part of the Strong Lebanon bloc.
He added that the new bloc would be at the disposal and in support of President Aoun.
The FPM candidate predicted that his party would win between 22 to 24 seats in the new parliament, revealing that the total number of the bloc’s MPs, including party and non-party members, could reach 30.
Observers doubt however that the movement will win more than 22 seats given recent political shifts in the country.
Bassil’s movement has been accused of striking electoral alliances with figures that are not close to its strategic and political visions.
In the north electoral district, for example, the FPM is allying with head of the Independence Movement Michel Mouawad, who is a main member of the March 14 forces.
Mouawad had previously declared that his electoral alliance should not be linked to any post-elections political commitment.
The current electoral alliances in Lebanon reveal that the post-May 6 political alignments will be very different from the current line-ups.
Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to form a new parliamentary bloc that includes head of the Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblat and others.
It is still unclear whether “Hezbollah” will form an independent bloc or ally with pro-Syrian regime figures.
