Report: No Breakthrough in Government Formation

Although there is no major breakthrough in Lebanon’s government formation, but Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is determined to form one in the next few days now that the ten-day deadline he set after his “positive” meeting with President Michel Aoun last week has ended, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

The daily said that Hariri is “carefully working on a new government formula before presenting it to Aoun in the next few days.”

Meanwhile, Hizbullah sources blamed the delay on what they said is “foreign intervention,” saying “we can’t form a government unless foreign vetoes are removed.”

Center House sources of Hariri, dimmed any hopes that a breakthrough could be reached.

“It is impossible to make a breakthrough on the formation,” they said, “Hariri is waiting for Aoun in order to resume contacts and find a solution. Everybody must make concessions in order to lineup a government,” they said, in an indirect reference to PSP leader Walid Jumblat.

As the formation process stalls, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat hinted on Monday that he could agree to make “concessions” regarding his party's share in the new government.

Jumblat had been insisting on getting all three Druze seats for his PSP but has recently shown some flexibility. Lebanese Democratic Party chief MP Talal Arslan, backed by President Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement, has stressed that he has the right to get one of the Druze seats.