Aoun Desires Interior or Finance Portfolios
Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and “Reform and Change” parliamentary bloc leader MP Michel Aoun is demanding either the Interior or Finance portfolios from Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri.
A 70 minutes meeting Friday evening between Hariri and Aoun”s envoy, Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil delved for the first time into the specific issue of distribution of government portfolios.
The issue of who would be handling what portfolio would be discussed at a later stage.
Current government givens predict a long process for forming a government, as no sliver lining is seen on the horizon.
The daily As-Safir said on Saturday that the first round of Hariri-Bassil talks were negative. It said that the prime minister-designate presented Bassil with his vision regarding the distribution of portfolios. In return Bassil asked for either the Interior or Finance portfolios.
According to As-Safir the prime minister-designate refused to discuss the matter.
A parliamentary majority source told the daily al-Liwa on Saturday that the undeclared dispute between Speaker Berri and MP Aoun is delaying matters. He expected a Syrian move in this regard to close the loop on this.
The daily pan-Arab al-Hayat on Saturday quoted parliamentary opposition sources saying, "the exist would be for President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister-designate Hariri to accept placing Jebran Bassil in government but not necessarily in the Telecommunications portfolio.
Sources added that the game of "give and take" could further complicate matters as placing Bassil in government would open the door wide open to placing others that similarly didn”t succeed in the June 7 parliamentary elections in government.