Sleiman should hold decisive cabinet vote
Caretaker Minister of State Nassib Lahoud said on Tuesday that foreign as well as regional agreements and reconciliations were "likely to facilitate the formation of the cabinet, but they should not replace domestic efforts by Lebanese political parties."
Following a meeting with Saudi ambassador Ali Awad Assiri, Lahoud said that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was "not in any way tied any way to the formation of the cabinet."
He said that the decisive vote in cabinet should be "put in the hands of President Michel Sleiman, since the parliamentary majority wants to be productive while the opposition wants to participate [in the decision making process]." Assiri stressed that the formation of the cabinet was a "purely domestic issue."