Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
officials confirmed on Thursday their rift with the rest of the March 8 alliance's parties despite alleged efforts by Hizbullah to bridge the gap between Speaker Nabih
KnobbyBerri
Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet...
and FPM leader
Michel Aoun...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
.
In remarks to As Safir daily, Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is an FPM official, reiterated that his party was no longer part of the March 8 coalition that includes Hizbullah and Berri's Amal movement.
He said he informed Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam more than 45 days ago that he shouldn't consider the FPM and the other parties a single team.
"Political lineups have been shattered," he said. "Neither March 8 nor March 14 have stayed the way they are."
The new developments should facilitate the formation of the government, he added.
Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who is also an FPM official, echoed similar remarks. "We have never been part of March 8 so that we separate ourselves from it," he told al-Joumhouria newspaper.
"The differences with this camp are the focus of discussions to assess the next stage and learn lessons from them," he said.
Kanaan stressed that each party has its own weight in negotiating for shares in the new cabinet.
Despite the remarks of Bassil and Kanaan, Hizbullah sources told al-Joumhouria that the party would exert efforts to restore the ties between Aoun and Berri, who has also stressed the March 8 alliance no longer exists.