Local Editor

Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun said on Thursday his party achieved what it wanted at the cabinet session which convened today, stressing that any decision will not be taken without the FPM approval.

Free Patriotic Movement Chief Michel Aoun

Talking during a press conference after an heated cabinet session, Aoun said that “there will be no new president” before the political forces agree on a new electoral law.

“Today was a historic day for us and we're still at the beginning of our movements. We will regain everything that they usurped from us through erosion,” Aoun said few hours after the FPM protested near the Grand Serail to express their discontent with the Lebanese government.

“We achieved what we wanted from the Cabinet session today,” Aoun said, adding: “No decision will be made [in the Cabinet] without our approval.”

He said the decree passed by Cabinet concerning contracts with hospitals was approved by his ministers.

Commenting on the protest, Aoun saluted his supporters saying they were assaulted by security forces.

“There's no way for electing a new president for the country without forming a new parliamentary council whose formation also cannot find impression without finding and approving on a new law for elections," the FPM leader said.

Earlier on Thursday, a tensed cabinet session started with a shouting match between Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil, an FPM minister.

The meeting ended with an agreement to postpone discussions to a session scheduled for July 23. However, ministers managed to suppress tensions and pass one agenda item relating to supplying funds to Lebanese public hospitals.

Meanwhile, and outside the Grand Serail, hundreds of FPM supporters were staging a sit-in in protest against the Lebanese government’s mechanism of taking decisions in light of the presidential vacuum.