Appointment of Election Losers from Both Sides is Possible Breakthrough in Crisis
Discussions are now underway to find a way out of the Cabinet crisis that could be found through the appointment of election losers from both the majority and the Opposition in the new government.
However, for those election losers who will be appointed, they will enter the government as ministers without portfolios.
Recent statements by President Michel Suleiman that he does not mind the appointment of election losers have paved the way for an exit to the crisis.
Al-Liwaa daily said Wednesday that Suleiman”s remarks did not come from nowhere, but rather came within the framework of throwing the balance of the game with a Vatican blessing.
Well-informed sources told al-Liwaa that the Vatican”s political cover was reflected in comments made by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir who announced upon his return from Rome on Tuesday that he supports Suleiman”s statements.
"As long as the President said this, then I don”t mind," Sfeir said.
Sources from the Christian opposition, meanwhile, told An-Nahar newspaper that Suleiman”s remarks have put a consensus agreement on a Cabinet lineup on the right track through his insistence that national interest comes first.
Sources close from Christian leaders in the majority March 14 coalition told An-Nahar that the Lebanese Forces and the Phalange Party in particular will notify PM-designate Saad Hariri of their rejection of such appointments based on two points: the first is related to the principle of respecting election results. The second is political which underlines the keenness on the government structure which does not include those who lost the June parliamentary elections.
The daily al-Akhbar, for its part, said a tentative agreement had been reached to reappoint Jebran Bassil in the new government, "but that the Opposition would be denied the telecoms ministry which will be the President”s share."