Abi Khalil Calls on Hariri to 'Acknowledge Others Existence'
Caretaker Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil has called on Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to “acknowledge the existence” of March 8’s Sunni MPs.
In an interview with Radio Liban, Abi Khalil urged Hariri to “acknowledge the existence of others who reflect certain representation.”
He however called on the pro-Hizbullah Sunni MPs to “address the problem of their political legitimacy after they failed to form a bloc or to attend the parliamentary consultations as a unified bloc.”
And stressing that “the Free Patriotic Movement is not part of the current row in the cabinet formation process,” Abi Khalil emphasized that “the formation of the government achieves the interest of all Lebanese, not a certain group” and that “the FPM and President (Michel) Aoun’s camp have offered the necessary concessions for the formation of the government.”
The new government was on the verge of formation on October 29 after the Lebanese Forces accepted the portfolios that were assigned to it but a last-minute hurdle over the representation of the pro-Hizbullah Sunni MPs surfaced.
Hizbullah has insisted that the six Sunni MPs should be given a seat in the government, refraining from providing Hariri with the names of its three Shiite ministers in a bid to press him.
Hariri has rejected the demand, announcing that he’d rather step down than give the aforementioned lawmakers a seat from his own share in the government.
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