“Make compromises” to end deadlock – Phalange, PSP
Parliamentary majority urges rapid cabinet formation
As Premier-designate Saad Hariri returned to Beirut following a two-day trip to Saudi Arabia to perform umra, the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and the Phalange party urged groups, which are tying the formation of a cabinet to preconditions, “to make compromises.” The parliamentary majority called on Monday for the prompt formation of a cabinet in order to break the political deadlock given the need to tackle future challenges represented by Israeli threats as well as to meet the country’s social and economic needs.
The PSP and the Phalange both issued statements indirectly blaming the delay in the formation process on Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun’s demands while noting the negative impact of the deadlock on the lives of Lebanese.
The PSP urged political parties Monday to facilitate the formation of a cabinet based on the 15-10-5 formula in order to preserve Lebanon’s national-unity given Israel’s recent threats.
“There is a need to overcome the details and calculations pertaining to relatives and sons-in-law,” the statement said, a reference to demands by Aoun to appoint his son-in-law caretaker Telecommunication Minister Jebran Bassil for a second term.
The PSP statement stressed that the 15-10-5 structure guaranteed partnership among Lebanese groups and “preserved the will of Lebanese voters in light of the outcome of June 7 parliamentary elections.”
The 15-10-5 formula grants the majority 15 ministers, the opposition 10 and President Michel Sleiman five seats which guarantee him the tipping vote; March 14 and the opposition would respectively be denied absolute majority or veto power.
Besides the Israeli threats and the implications of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict on Lebanon, the statement stressed that the growing Lebanese public debt as well as the budget deficit in the energy and electricity sectors all required a rapid conclusion of the formation process.
“This small sample of pressing issues called upon political forces to make concessions to form a national-unity cabinet capable of facing those challenges,” the statement said.
Similarly, the Phalange Party called on “parties who tie the government formation to preconditions” to take responsibility and facilitate the process.
In a statement issued Monday, the Phalange Party questioned the “mysterious” deadlock regarding the formation process especially ahead of a series of domestic as well as regional security and political challenges awaiting the country.
Meanwhile, March 14 sources slammed criticism directed against Hariri and Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir published in Syrian state-run newspaper Al-Baath, and described the report as a clear intervention in Lebanese domestic affairs and the government formation process.
Al-Baath said in remarks published Sunday that Hariri’s “sudden” trip to Saudi Arabia “raised questions and speculations. The newspaper referred to Hariri as “MP-designate Hariri.” This term was first used by Aoun during a speech last week.
Al-Baath accused Egypt of seeking to re-appoint caretaker Prime Minister Fouad Siniora for another term, adding that such a scenario “is quite plausible if Hariri’s trip to Saudi Arabia is longer than expected.”
However, pro-Syrian Tawheed Movement leader Wi’am Wahhab said on Monday that Damascus was not interfering in Lebanese domestic affairs but rather supported consensus to facilitate the formation process.
Wahhab called on Hariri “to stand closer to a Saudi-Syrian accord rather than a Syrian-Saudi-American disagreement.
Criticizing Sfeir, Al-Baath said “calls by some spiritual leaders to form a majority cabinet regardless of the opposition’s participation, consensus and national partnership also raises questions.”
Also on Sunday, Aoun slammed Sfeir’s call to form a majority cabinet if the political parties failed to reach an agreement soon on a national-unity government.
“Would the patriarch support a majority cabinet if the parliamentary majority were represented by a Muslim-Muslim coalition?” Aoun asked, adding that Lebanon could only be governed through real partnership given its sectarian regime.
Sfeir had discouraged on several occasions the formation of a government embracing opposition and majority forces, saying it opposed democratic principles and adding that a majority should govern while an opposition should monitor its performance.