BEIRUT: Senior political leaders have approved the distribution of ministries in a new government, five months after June’s parliamentary elections, but further negotiations await to appease March 14 Christian politicians, officials said Sunday. While the hurdles between Premier-designate Saad Hariri and opposition politician Michel Aoun appear to have been cleared, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader’s camp must now put forward the names of individual ministers for the new cabinet.
As for the formulation of the cabinet’s policy statement, opposition groups stressed on Sunday that no disagreement governed the issue of Hizbullah’s weapons since the matter would be subject to discussions during upcoming National Dialogue sessions, while March 14 Christian figures expressed their rejection of legitimizing the party’s weapons in the statement.
Meanwhile, President Michel Sleiman said Sunday the cabinet would see light in the coming few days and stressed National Dialogue sessions would immediately follow its formation.
The 15-10-5 formula in the new cabinet grants the majority 15 ministers, the opposition 10 and Sleiman five seats, which guarantee the president the tipping vote while the March 14 coalition and the opposition are respectively denied an absolute majority and veto power.
Speaking during the inspection of the Lebanese University science faculty to be inaugurated next month, Sleiman underlined the necessity of implementing administrative decentralization to meet the need for new developmental projects throughout the country.
Separately, Hariri held talks Sunday at his residence in downtown Beirut with Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel and Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) head Walid Jumblatt.
PSP official and Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi said Sunday an accord over a unity cabinet would be finalized within hours.
Gemayel’s son Sami, a Phalange Party official and MP for Metn, said Sunday that his party demanded to be fairly represented in the government, adding that the Phalange insisted on being granted the Education portfolio.
Gemayel argued that March 14 Christian parties were “entitled to a four-day period to decide upon the distribution of portfolios among its groups, given that the opposition has delayed the process for the last four months.”
He also accused Hizbullah of dictating the current cabinet lineup under the threat of arms.
“The agreement today [over the cabinet make-up] abolished the June 7 elections result since the majority had the choice between accepting the current equation imposed by the minority or face new May 7 events or a civil war,” Gemayel said.
On May 7, 2008, bloody clashes broke out between pro-government and opposition supporters in Beirut and the Chouf mountainous region following the cabinet’s decision to dismantle Hizbullah’s telecommunications network.
The clashes were followed by the Doha accord that led to the election of Sleiman and the formation of a national unity cabinet which granted the opposition veto power, to end two years of political stalemate after Shiite ministers representing Hizbullah and the Amal Movement withdrew from the government in 2006.
The Social Affairs, Labor, Justice and Higher Education portfolios remain subject to talks among the Phalange, the Lebanese Forces (LF), and March 14 independent Christian figures.
Out of 30 ministers in the next cabinet, the Maronites are to be represented by six ministers.
The Reform and Change bloc headed by Aoun is to be represented by three Maronite ministers, while Sleiman and the Phalange will field one minister each for the sect. Batroun MP Butros Harb and a candidate from the LF are reportedly in the running for the final Maronite seat in the cabinet.
According to the agreement, the Reform and Change bloc was granted a ministry of state along with the Telecommunications, Industry, Tourism and Energy portfolios, the latter to be headed by current caretaker Telecommunications Minister Gibran Bassil.
Chouf MP George Adwan, an LF official, said on Sunday that the LF wouldn’t be able to give both the Justice Ministry, which it now holds, and its right to be represented by a Maronite minister in the next cabinet.
Media reports said Harb is demanding to be named to head the Justice Ministry if he is to take part in the next cabinet.
Caretaker Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar stressed on Sunday that the LF insisted on retaining the Justice Ministry, but would take its final decision on the matter after meeting with Hariri on Monday.
“Boutros Harb is an essential political figure in the March 14 alliance but the available information indicates that the LF will retain the ministry,” Najjar said.
Najjar also said that nearly all of the issues obstructing the new cabinet’s formation have been resolved, adding that there are still two or three names under discussion for ministerial positions.
Separately, tackling the ministerial statement, Hizbullah’s Labor Minister Mohammad Fneish stressed that his party would not settle for less than what had been agreed upon in earlier statements, adding that no party could impose on the Lebanese any stance with regard to the resistance. “There is no need to tackle the ministerial statement issue, since there are previous statements that were approved,” Fneish said.
Similarly, the PSP’s Aridi stressed the need to avoid wrangling over the ministerial statement, given a basic agreement on the issue of Hizbullah’s weapons.
“I believe the basic principles have been agreed to, since all parties agree that the issue [of Hizbullah’s weapons] should be subject to discussions during national dialogue sessions and thus there is no need to raise and provoke new issues that are already subject to consensus,” Aridi said.
But Gemayel rejected the legitimization of Hizbullah’s weapons, calling it an issue of major disagreement among political parties.
Listen to the Article 
Printable Version 
Send to a friend 