Geagea and Miqati Laud Hariri's Remarks

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and ex-PM and Tripoli MP Najib Miqati on Tuesday lauded the remarks that were voiced by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri during his press conference earlier in the day.

“As for PM-designate Saad Hariri’s remarks this afternoon, they were accepted in form and reasonable in content,” Geagea tweeted.

The LF leader had described Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s remarks on Saturday as “unacceptable in form and unreasonable in content.”

Miqati for his part hailed Hariri in a tweet on Tuesday.

“PM-designate Hariri, I salute your respect for the constitution and the Taef Accord and for the powers vested in you, hoping others will help your effort to form the government and preserve stability in the country,” Miqati tweeted.

Hariri had confirmed in his press conference that a pro-Miqati figure will be allocated a seat in the new government.

The 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 a grouping of 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 own ministers in a bid to press him.

President Michel Aoun -- a Hizbullah ally -- threw his support behind Hariri and rejected the demand during a TV interview, noting that the aforementioned MPs are “individuals and not a bloc.”

Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil is meanwhile trying to convince the rival parties to accept a settlement based on naming a “consensus” Sunni minister.