Cabinet Formation Process Reaches Stalemate over Ministerial Statement

Government formation process has reached a deadlock after a dispute over the cabinet's ministerial statement between the political foes, local newspaper reported on Thursday.

Sources told As Safir newspaper that the cabinet formation is expected to be delayed as the March 14 alliance is holding on to its conditions to include the dissociation policy in the ministerial statement and excluding the the formula of the “Army,people, and resistance.”

The March 8 alliance and mainly Speaker Nabih Berri have called for keeping discussions on the policy statement until after the formation of the cabinet. He has also stuck to the army-people-resistance formula.

But the March 14 camp, which is holding on to a deal with its rivals on several of the government's aspects, has insisted on having the Baabda Declaration as the basis of the policy statement.

Change and Reform parliamentary bloc lawmaker Ibrahim Kanaan said that the Free Patriotic Movement has reservations over the ongoing cabinet consultations, considering them political maneuvering by al-Mustaqbal movement.

“We want to facilitate the cabinet formation process according constitutional principle,” Kanaan said in comments published in As Safir.

He pointed out that all the exerted efforts are only to create a fuss.

Sources close to Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam that optimism is prevailing and the ongoing contacts with the political foes are to discuss the delicate details concerning the government’s lineup and distribution of portfolios.

The sources said that the rival parties have agreed on several issues.

Political sources that the upcoming 72 hours are decisive as the formation process will enter the final stages.

However, sources close to al-Mustaqbal movement said that the formation endeavors are ongoing, describing the current “deadlock as positive.”

The government formation process has witnessed an intensified a political activity in an attempt to end the standstill since Salam was appointed in April.

The cabinet formation process was put on the front burner after Berri proposed a revised 8-8-8 government formula and President Michel Suleiman said he would form a so-called neutral cabinet if the political rivals don't agree on an all-embracing government within ten days.

Amid the Lebanese Forces' rejection of Hizbullah's participation in the cabinet, the March 14 camp has reportedly accepted the 8-8-8 formula in principle, but it is awaiting answers pertaining to the ministerial policy statement and the rotation of portfolios among political parties.

The 8-8-8 formula divides ministers equally between the centrists and March 14 and 8 alliances, in which each get eight ministers with “decisive ministers” for the March 14 and 8 coalitions.