MP Harb dismayed with struggle over cabinet shares
MP Boutros Harb said he was dismayed with the struggle over government shares and the imposition of conditions, names and positions.
Harb reiterated his unwillingness to personally participate in the government and said he could not call it a government of national concord and national unity.
“It is regrettable that the formation of the government has taken this direction, and that the country is witnessing new practices inconsistent with the format and content of democracy and our parliamentary system,” Harb said in a statement on Tuesday.
“What is happening today is a dangerous precedent, which may turn into a constitutional custom at the expense of the powers of the president in the government formation, and at the expense of some of the powers granted to the incumbent prime minister,” he warned.
Harb said some minority groups had created “political dramas” to buy time and impose conditions on the government formation. The MP noted that the minority now wants its pro-government counterparts to take one-fifth of the time the opposition took to complete negotiations among their ranks.