Opposition informs Sleiman of cabinet draft rejection
Move could prompt Hariri to step down as PM-designate
Opposition groups informed President Michel Sleiman Tuesday of their rejection of the cabinet line-up proposal submitted Monday by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, raising the possibility that the latter would step aside.
“We do not consider what happened to be appropriate, either with our democratic values or in how to deal with us. We were demanding from [Hariri] to present a draft that is acceptable to our demands in order to negotiate over it,” said caretaker Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil, a Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) official, after meeting Sleiman at his summer residence in Beiteddine.
“We have informed [the president] of our rejection but at the same time, we have illustrated all the readiness to continue dialogue and negotiation.”
The opposition delegation comprised, in addition to Bassil, the political aide of Hizbullah’s secretary general Hussein Khalil and Amal Movement MP Ali Hassan Khalil.
Hariri handed Sleiman his proposal on Monday, a move quickly rejected by the opposition alliance because they had not agreed to the draft.
Political sources said Hariri might react to the opposition’s categoric refusal by stepping down. Should he do so, Sleiman is expected to hold consultations with parliamentarians this week to designate a new premier.
With Hariri holding the majority in Parliament after winning in June 7 polls, he is expected to be reappointed, renewing his mandate for the premiership.
Hariri had been unable to reach a deal with the opposition on the cabinet since he was appointed premier in June.
Some fear the standoff could revive sectarian tensions which have frequently sparked street violence in the past.
“The formation process usually takes place in agreement between the premier-designate and the president but Hariri’s proposal could lead to more tensions in the country at times when the opposition expressed positivity so as to facilitate the process and strengthen national-unity,” Bassil said.
According to the Constitution, the cabinet’s formation decree is signed by the president and the premier-designate.
However, Bassil stressed that the opposition remained open to further discussions and dialogue so as to preserve national-unity to solve the crisis.
Nawaf Moussawi, a lawmaker of the FPM, a Hizbullah ally, said Tuesday the president would not sign the decree of the cabinet’s formation since the proposed line-up would lead to conflict among the Lebanese.
Sleiman’s visitors had quoted him as saying Monday that he would only sign a “well-balanced” government proposal.
Meanwhile, the Future Movement parliamentary bloc voiced support for Hariri’s initiative, while emphasizing the premier-designate’s constitutional prerogatives with regard to the cabinet formation.
Following a meeting headed by caretaker Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, the bloc issued a statement calling on all political parties to respond to Hariri’s initiative without resorting to threats and in accordance with constitutional norms.
The statement added that the proposal based on the 15-10-5 formula embraced national unity in accordance with the results of the June 7 parliamentary elections and established the principle of rotating ministerial portfolios among parties.
During an iftar later Tuesday, Siniora said Hariri had submitted his proposal “in a bid to reject attempts aimed to intimidate the premier-designate or weaken him.”
Hariri’s proposed cabinet formula also failed to please his parliamentary majority ally the Phalange Party.
Phalange leader Amin Gemayel said Hariri’s proposal concerning the cabinet did not match his party’s expectations.
“I will conduct the necessary discussions with the premier-designate and the president to reconsider the Phalange party’s share in the next cabinet,” Gemayel said.
Media reports published Tuesday said the Phalange had only been assigned the Tourism Ministry while the Lebanese Forces (LF) had received the Social Affairs and Industry ministries.
A source close to the LF told the state-run National News Agency said on Tuesday that the party would hold a meeting to discuss its share in the government, adding that if the situation on both the domestic and foreign level were not “dangerous, the LF would have taken another stance.”
Hariri’s cabinet proposal is based on the 15-10-5 formula.
The 15-10-5 cabinet structure grants the majority 15 ministers, the opposition 10 and Sleiman five seats, which guarantees him the tipping vote while both the March 14 and the opposition are respectively denied absolute majority or veto power.
The parliamentary majority had rejected on several occasions the nomination of ministerial candidates who were defeated in the June 7 parliamentary polls.
Bassil, who ran for one of two seats in his hometown of Batroun, lost to March 14 MPs; his father-in-law FPM leader MP Michel Aoun insists that the caretaker minister be reappointed for a second term at the Telecommunications Ministry.
Aoun also wants to be assigned a “sovereign” portfolio.
Sovereign portfolios include the Defense, Interior, Finance and Foreign ministries.
Media reports said that Hariri assigned the FPM the Labor, Higher Education, and Public Works and Transportation ministries along with two state ministries.
Media leaks added that the Telecommunications Ministry along with the Ministry of the Displaced was assigned to the Progressive Socialist Party, while the Future Movement retained the Finance and Economy portfolios.
Tackling Hariri’s refusal to take into account Aoun’s demands, FPM’s caretaker Social Works Minister Mario Aoun said the premier-designate’s proposal aimed to challenge the FPM’s right to nominate his ministers.
Hizbullah’s number two Sheikh Naim Qassem called Tuesday on politicians to support consensus rather than adopt “a confrontational approach.”
FPM Metn MP Ibrahim Kanaan said on Tuesday that Hariri’s proposal overlooked constitutional norms “since it denied the president the role to have a say in cabinet formation.”
Kanaan also warned against attempts to instigate conflict between the opposition and the president.
Separately, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams expressed concerns, following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri Monday, that no agreement over the cabinet had been reached more than 10 weeks after the designation of Hariri as premier-designate and despite intense efforts to do so.
“I call on all Lebanese to continue to work toward the goal of a unity government. Democracy needs compromise. Lebanon must not return to the old days of polarization and crisis,” Williams said.