Satisfy Aoun with Portfolios of Your Own Share, Not Others Share
Al-Afkar Lebanese weekly magazine quoted the visitors of Speaker Nabih Berri as saying that the house speaker told them that those working on satisfying Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun with certain cabinet portfolios will have to deduct them from their share not from others share.
Berri told the magazine that he has never talked about rejecting the idea of appointing elections losers as ministers and that he did not name any candidates for the first cabinet lineup presented by PM-designate Saad Hariri "except for talking about keeping the Health ministry in the hand of its current minister Dr. Mohammad Jawad Khalifeh".
Friday”s issue of Al-Afkar magazine will have Berri”s explanation for the reasons that made him abstain from naming Hariri for the second designation.
Regarding re-designating Hariri, Berri said: "It is true that I work in politics, but my dignity comes first and I was the first to announce my intention to re-designate Hariri in case he apologized. Despite that, al-Mustaqbal bloc MPs started to attack me, and some of them reminded about electing me head of Parliament."
Berri revealed that he asserted a lot of efforts to thwart Hariri from apologizing during the first designation and that Hariri surprised everyone by apologizing.
Answering a question regarding the Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, Berri described Jumblat as the pacification and salvation partner.