We Won”t Accept Anyone to Change the Cabinet Formula
Hizbullah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said Friday that the opposition was abiding by the agreement reached with President Michel Suleiman and Premier-designate Saad Hariri on the cabinet formula.
"We agreed with the president and premier-designate on the cabinet formula around 10 days ago," Qassem said. "We think that the (latest) developments won”t change and won”t have an impact on this formula."
He said the 15-10-5 formula guarantees cabinet consensus on crucial issues. "Despite all what happened, we didn”t change and we won”t agree that anyone changes this formula," Qassem stressed.
The Hizbullah official also believed that PM-designate Saad Hariri would need 48 to 72 hours to form the government upon his return to Beirut.
In an apparent reference to demands by some March 14 officials not to give Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil a portfolio because he lost the parliamentary polls, Qassem said: "Any Lebanese can become a minister, whether he was a previous minister or for becoming a minister for the first time or whether he was an ex-MP or didn”t win the elections. All these slogans have no value."