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Lebanon’s next chapter: A new social contract

Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil blames “foreign countries” for “disrespect of elections” in his country.
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Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, in an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, said this week that the main internal obstacles to forming a new government, now four months and counting, “are related to not respecting the results of the elections. In a national unity government, you only abide by the elections, and you get the formation right away. So we are afraid that this disrespect of the elections is coming out of what we heard that some foreign countries were not pleased by the results and that this would turn the equilibrium established in Lebanon, which I don't believe it's the case.” 

“In Lebanon, no one can prevail,” added Bassil, who also serves as leader of the Free Patriotic Movement. “No one. No matter how strong you look economically or militarily or in popularity, you cannot rule the country alone. So no one government, no one parliament will be under — take over one party and specifically here I mean Hezbollah, because the situation as such is very wrong.”

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