The Free Patriotic Movement’s political council held its periodic meeting on Saturday, headed by its Chief, MP Gebran Bassil, following which a statement was issued calling on “all Lebanese to render the upcoming parliamentary elections a date for expressing the popular will, through competing political and economic programs that can achieve the required change, in wake of the evident need for a new political and economic system.”

Referring to the constitutional deadline, the council warned against a potential project to amend the electoral law and eliminate the right of expatriates to vote for six representatives for the Lebanese Diaspora. “The Free Patriotic Movement, which struggled for the deserving emigrants to regain their citizenship, and to obtain the right to participate in the elections through voting, candidacy and nomination, calls on the expatriates to raise their voice to block the way before those who wish to take away their rights,” the statement went on, considering that “any attempt to tamper with the electoral law will open the door to other amendments to this law that was approved by national consensus and which has consecrated the expatriates’ constitutional and legal rights that cannot be retracted.”

The FPM political council also warned against any attempt to obstruct the investigation into the crime of the Beirut port explosion. “The council considers that pressure to dismiss the judicial investigator or push him to resign may conceal an intention to freeze the investigation and stop the course of justice,” the council asserted.

On the other hand, it emphasized that “the duty of the investigation, and one of its goals, lies in revealing the source of the nitrates, the importers, and the destination of their use,” adding that “the crime is not confined to job negligence, particularly after large quantities of nitrates appeared in a suspicious manner in the Bekaa region, a fact that cannot be overlooked before the full truth is revealed.”

On the work of the new cabinet, the statement said: "The council urges the government to move forward in updating the financial recovery plan, in parallel with the re-launching of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, to be coupled with the parliament’s approval of the proposals for reform laws such as capital control, recovery of funds transferred abroad, disclosure of the accounts and properties of those in public service positions, judiciary independence, consumer protection and competition law,” the statement underlined.

It concluded by expressing its belief that “the legislative and executive authorities bear a great responsibility in seizing the opportunity available locally and externally, as the challenges facing the Lebanese require these two institutions to perform exceptionally in order to allow for a glimmer of hope.”