Lebanese Leaders Putting Final Touches to Draft Cabinet Lineup

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is putting along with President Michel Aoun the final touches to a draft Cabinet lineup in hopes of announcing the government formation over the weekend or early next week, a political source familiar with the process said Thursday.

“Optimism still reigns about an imminent formation of a new Cabinet of specialists. After resolving the issue of rotation of key ministries, the president and the premier-designate, building on the rapid progress that has been made in the Cabinet formation process, are working to distribute the sovereign and other ministerial portfolios among the various sects,” the source said as reported by the Lebanese daily The Daily Star.

The source said that the final stage before announcing the Cabinet formation was to add the names of potential ministers to their apportioned ministries.

“Given the prevailing positive atmosphere and barring any emergency development that could delay the formation, a new Cabinet of specialists who do not belong to political parties could be announced either at the weekend or early next week,” the source added.

The same source said Aoun and Hariri had so far agreed on an 18-member Cabinet – nine Christians and nine Muslims – including a ministerial portfolio for the Druze sect.

A week since his designation as Prime Minister, Hariri, backed by France and regional powers, has met four times with Aoun, in a move reflecting the premier-designate’s determination to accelerate the formation of a new government made up of experts.

A source at Baabda Palace Thursday denied reports that Hariri presented Aoun with a draft Cabinet lineup during their meeting Wednesday.

The two leaders have imposed a shroud of secrecy on the Cabinet formation efforts. Hariri Thursday declined to answer reporters’ questions on the Cabinet formation process after meeting with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian at Dar al-Fatwa to congratulate him on the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday.

A statement released by Hariri’s media office denied as “inaccurate” and “untrue” reports circulated by media outlets and social media on the Cabinet formation process.

“The only and true atmosphere reflected by the president and the premier-designate is the atmosphere of progress in the Cabinet formation process in a climate of understanding and positivity,” the statement said.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri also sounded optimistic about the Cabinet formation, saying a new government “may see the light of day within four or five days if the current positive atmosphere persisted.”

“There are no substantial obstacles in the Cabinet formation process ... We have reached the third stage which is to add the names [of potential ministers] to the apportioned ministries,” Berri’s media adviser Ali Hamdan said in a TV interview Thursday.

The new government would be tasked with implementing a string of structural economic and administrative reforms designed to lift the crises-hit country out of its catastrophic economic and financial crunch, the worst since the 1975-90 Civil War.