Gebran Bassil on leading the ‘positive opposition’ and holding Lebanon’s new government to account

Mr Bassil's Free Patriotic Movement not part of the cabinet for the first time in nearly 20 years

Gebran Bassil, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement political party in Lebanon. Matt Kynaston / The National

For years, Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement had dominated the country’s Christian political scene, obtaining key ministerial seats and yielding a president of the republic, the party’s founder Michel Aoun, in 2016.

But for the first time in nearly two decades it finds itself outside of the cabinet of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and in the parliamentary opposition.

“It feels good to be in the opposition,” said the FPM's leader Gebran Bassil, who has held a string of ministerial positions in the past 15 years, from foreign affairs, to energy and water, to telecommunications.

“It is something very normal in politics. In Lebanon, to tell you the truth, because of the nature of the country, there is no clear opposition and government,” said Mr Bassil, one of Lebanon's most prominent politicians, speaking to The National in his first interview since the announcement of the new government last Saturday.

Lebanon’s Parliament is carved up into a variety of groups and blocs with none holding a majority. The elections of presidents, prime ministers and government formation can take months or even years as consensus is sought. “It's not a populist opposition. First, we want success in the country. It's not that we are aiming that the government fails,” Mr Bassil said. "We want success and that is what is positive opposition. It's not that we will oppose everything decided by the government.

“No, if the government will do something good, will implement a project that was decided by us, will have a new project that is good, we will definitely applaud the government. But any mistake made we will criticise it, we will hold the government accountable.”

The new Lebanese government has pledged to be a reformist one – but was still created with the backing of some of the country's historic heavyweights.

Lebanon’s unique confessional system means certain roles are reserved for specific sects. It also means that parliament is represented by those variety of religions, with the 24-person cabinet split 50/50 by Christians and Muslims.

The FPM entered Parliament for the first time in 2005 in the wake of the so-called cedar revolution and quickly became the largest Christian party in Lebanon. However, gone are the days of its alliance and understanding with Hezbollah, viewing it now as just another political party. Those ties to Hezbollah led to claims of alleged corruption, which Mr Bassil strongly rejects.

But the US imposed sanctions on him in 2020, saying his tenure at the top of some of the senior ministries was "marked by significant allegations of corruption" in a country blighted by economic mismanagement.

While the FPM may be portraying an optimistic outlook as the opposition, it is not happy with how Prime Minister Nawaf Salam formed his cabinet.

Specifically, Mr Bassil said, he was not happy that Shiite and Druze parties were able to dictate on the names of their own allocations – but Christian parties and, to a lesser extent, Sunni blocs were not able to do so in the same way. Instead, many of the Christian and Sunni positions in the cabinet were nominated by the Prime Minister himself.

Gebran Bassil is the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, one of the largest Christian parties in Lebanon. Matt Kynaston / The National

The night before Mr Salam was designated Prime Minister, Mr Bassil said he sought his support.

Mr Bassil said they agreed on two things – one, that the ministers should be specialists in their roles, and two, that the cabinet should be representative of the various blocs in Parliament. He does not believe either of those happened, and says Christian parties were not able to have as much of a say in their allocation of seats.

“No, it’s not about being betrayed. I'm used to be betrayed,” Mr Bassil said. “But he was not honest – when he asked for my support and I agreed with him on things, he changed without giving a justification.”

Mr Bassil insists he made no demands on the number of ministers or names allocated to his party. “All I asked him is to put a criteria and everybody abides by it. Clearly he did not do this. I can understand he would ask for one Christian minister but why would he be allowed to nominate four or five? We cannot accept in a confessional regime that the Christians can be marginalised in such a way.”

The new Lebanese government has a vast array of tasks ahead. They include financial reforms to rescue Lebanon’s devastated economic system, fully implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and tackling the thorny issue of the 1.5 million Syrians displaced in Lebanon. The discussion over the Syrians, a highly contentious issue, has become even more pressing since the fall of the Assad regime in December.

That issue resurfaced this week when the new Social Affairs Minister, Hanine Sayyed, said returns to Syria should be voluntary, offering a softer tone to that held by many Lebanese politicians who argue Syria is now safe to return to. The FPM says displaced Syrians should have a safe and dignified return. “I think this is one of the major issues that the government will have to solve,” Mr Bassil said.

Many of the displaced Syrians fled the brutal civil war that broke out in 2011 in the neighbouring country. Many Lebanese politicians had argued that even before the fall of the Assad regime that the situation had stabilised and that they should return.

“There is no justification at all that the Syrians would remain in the country," said Mr Bassil. "That statement made by the minister was a big failure to the whole government. We should have heard from the PM and the other ministers. How can they be silent about such an issue?”

“We expect the ministerial declaration to spell out the government's clear position on the return of the displaced Syrians, in line with our constitution and the best interest of the Lebanese people.”