Report: Hariri ‘Agrees’ to Review Names Close to Consultative Gathering
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has reportedly “agreed” on reviewing a list of compromise ministerial candidates presented by the so-called Independent Sunni MPs in order to allocate a cabinet seat for one of them in the new government, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat reported on Friday.
Sources following up closely on the government consultations spoke of a “suggestion that MPs of the Consultative Gathering (Independent Sunni MPs) prepare and hand Hariri a list of three or six candidates close to them for the Premier to choose from,” said the daily.
They added that “President Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri were close to that suggestions, but lawmakers of the Gathering rejected it.”
Said deputies, composed of six lawmakers, have earlier rejected to be represented from outside their “gathering.”
The sources added that Hariri has informed Aoun and Berri that he “will never sign” a government decree that includes “provocative” figures.
The last-minute Sunni hurdle emerged when the new government was on the verge of formation on October 29 after the Lebanese Forces accepted the portfolios that were assigned to it.
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.
Source: Naharnet
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