Hariri Presents Cabinet List for President”s Approval Amid Opposition Threats to Reject it
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri announced on Monday that he presented a 30-member Cabinet lineup to President Michel Suleiman, who promised to study it.
"I presented President Michel Suleiman a national unity cabinet lineup of 30 ministers based on the 15-10-5 formula," Hariri said following talks with Suleiman in his summer residence in Beiteddine.
The formula takes into consideration the sectarian balance in the country and respects the results of the June 7 parliamentary elections, he said.
The Opposition had hinted at rejecting the offer, particularly since the latest meeting between Hariri and Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil did not produce any radical changes.
Information obtained by Naharnet revealed that the Cabinet list does not include Bassil. However, it will give the FPM the public works and education portfolios while the telecommunications ministry would go to Ghazi Aridi and the energy to the Lebanese Forces (LF).
Naharnet also learned that Hariri”s new Cabinet deal received good support from Hariri”s allies, particularly Druze leader Walid Jumblat, LF chief Samir Geagea and Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel.
Jumblat, Geagea and Gemayel conveyed their backing to Hariri during separate meetings with him late Sunday.
Press reports on Monday had said Hariri would present his new government to the president prior to Suleiman”s Sept. 23 trip to New York where he will take part in the U.N. General Assembly meeting.
They said the Cabinet makeup is based on the already agreed upon 15-10-5 formula, taking into account the demands of the Opposition. It is aimed at pleasing the various political parties, but is likely to upset the Free Patriotic Movement headed by Gen. Michel Aoun.
The daily An-Nahar on Monday said Hariri again offered Bassil to give the FPM the education portfolio instead of the telecommunications ministry.
Hariri, on the other hand, received a clear indication that the Opposition is likely to reject any Cabinet deal that does not meet the full approval of its ally, Aoun.
Opposition sources told An-Nahar that the impression that has been formed is that Hariri is poised to offer a Cabinet lineup that includes names of FPM ministers such as Alain Aoun and Roy al-Hashem, but without giving Aoun the telecoms ministry or the foreign or energy portfolios. They also believe that Hariri intends to give Aoun”s Reform and Change bloc four seats instead of five, not all of them Maronites.
A high-ranking Opposition official quoted by As-Safir newspaper cautioned, however, that if Hariri”s new Cabinet lineup turned out to be uncoordinated with the other side, "then this means he would be driving the country deeper into the crisis, already more than two months into the stalemate."
Opposition sources hinted that Hariri”s move could leave Lebanon without a government.
They said the premier-designate”s measure was a "step backward" and warned that it could lead to a "major crisis" with the Opposition.