Reports: Bassil's Stance Further Complicates 'Sunni Obstacle'
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربيةA stance voiced Monday by Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil after his meeting with March 8’s Sunni MPs has further complicated the so-called Sunni representation obstacle instead of easing it, media reports said.
“It is clear that the independent Sunnis obstacle is aggravating and a settlement seems to be distant,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.
“Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is still insisting on his rejection to represent them from his share and Minister Jebran Bassil, whom the President has tasked with the negotiations, has created a new dilemma in the cabinet formation deadlock, returning the ball to the PM-designate’s court,” the daily added.
“Bassil has reiterated his stance that rejects the calls for naming a March 8 Sunni minister from President Michel Aoun’s share,” al-Akhbar said.
Bassil had announced Monday that Aoun is willing to give up the Maronite-Sunni seat swap with Hariri in order to give the PM-designate an additional Sunni seat and leave the sixth Sunni minister to the pro-Hizbullah MPs or a consensus candidate.
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 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 three Shiite ministers in a bid to press him.