Lebanese President Hopes for Gov’t Formation in New Year

By Staff, Agencies

President Michel Aoun spoke of his hope that Lebanon would emerge from its crisis and that the government would be formed in the new year, ahead of a Christmas Day mass at the seat of the Maronite Church in Bkirki Wednesday.

Aoun added that caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil was not responsible for forming the government but that he had the right to participate in its composition as he is the "leader of the largest bloc."

"Until now, we have not discussed the formation of the government," Aoun confirmed in a televised news conference.

His comments come after caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri launched Tuesday his harshest criticism yet of Bassil, saying he would not work again with the Free Patriotic Movement leader unless he abandons his "sectarian and racist" rhetoric.

Aoun expressed these sentiments after a meeting with a private meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai.

At the Mass, Rai said in his sermon that, “peace does not coexist with hunger, unemployment, deprivation and injustice... [and] the pursuit of private interests at the expense of the common good.”

Rai expressed his support for the swift formation of a new government adding that “the prime minister-designate must be supported, in order to form it in accordance with the challenges of Lebanon and the expectations of the Lebanese people, who have been expressing them for 70 days in [the] uprising.”

Since his designation by Aoun last week to form the next government, after gaining the support of a parliamentary majority, Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab has pledged to form a small government made up of “independent specialists” who do not belong to political parties. This has been a major demand of the nationwide proteste movement, since it began on Oct. 17.