Ibrahim's Initiative May Resolve Govt. Formation Crisis
General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has held a “positive” meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and “there is hope that the government might be formed soon,” Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayyad said.
“Pressure must be focused in all directions at the moment” in order to form the new government, Ghayyad added, according to several newspapers.
The media reports added that the sought breakthrough “still needs an extra effort” and that Speaker Nabih Berri “is not distant from Ibrahim’s efforts.”
Privately-owned Central News Agency meanwhile reported that Ibrahim’s initiative calls for forming “a mission-driven government consisted of 18 specialist, nonpolitical ministers in which parties are not represented.”
“President Michel Aoun and his camp would be given five ministers in addition to one minister for Armenians but without getting a one-third-plus-one veto power,” the agency said.
“In return, the justice and interior portfolios would be given to PM-designate Saad Hariri, who has to choose the two ministers from three nonpolitical, nonpartisan and non-provocative candidates proposed by Aoun,” the agency added.
“Aoun has agreed to the proposal, but Hariri has demanded the approval of Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on it without setting a condition that the FPM MPs should agree to granting the government their votes of confidence,” the agency said.
Informed sources meanwhile told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper that the main obstacle is still revolving around the interior portfolio in terms of who gets to name and who gets to pick the candidate.
The sources added that a Aoun-Hariri meeting in the coming days cannot be ruled out.
Source: Naharnet
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