Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is trying to unify the ranks of the Al-Mustaqbal Movement ahead of the holding of the party’s general conference.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hariri has “extended his hand to veterans to activate the role of his parliamentary bloc in the political life after he realized that there was a need to bridge the gap between the leadership and its base.”
Several ministers and former deputies - who are considered as “veterans” because they formed the political team of late former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - said that Saad has “changed, and this calls for optimism that he will move forward towards change within Al-Mustaqbal.”
They emphasized that Hariri has made a critical review of the reasons that aborted the political settlement that brought General Michel Aoun to the presidency, including the role that the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), MP Gebran Bassil in this regard.
The same sources noted that Hariri has decided to devote himself to settle the affairs of his movement, “in a manner that allows him to address his partisans and his audience with a coherent political speech that would get them out of confusion that afflicted them since he stepped down from the premiership.”
They revealed that Hariri has recently strengthened his parliamentary bloc with several former deputies and ministers, who are now attending the bloc’s meetings, including former Deputy Speaker Farid Makkari, Ahmed Fatfat, Raya Al-Hassan, Mustafa Alloush, Nabil de Freij, Ghazi Youssef, Ammar Houry, Mohammad Qabbani, Jamal Al-Jarrah, Antoine Andraous, and Bassem al-Shabb.
The sources also noted that the “veterans” would be regarded as the Movement’s “Shura Council”, and they could be joined at a later stage by some political figures, who were among the political team that accompanied the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
They also expressed their satisfaction with Saad’s decision to communicate with the Union of Beirut families but stressed that most of these meetings were held away from the media.
