Cabinet to Resolve Administrative Appointments during Friday’s Session

The cabinet that is scheduled to convene on Friday has on its agenda the controversial appointments of top civil servants, local newspapers reported.

Informed sources told al-Liwaa newspaper on Thursday that the meeting at the Baabda Palace will tackle administrative appointments, ruling out the discussion of the appointment of the head of the Higher Judicial Council.

“Some ministers suggested several names, according to the followed mechanism,” Administrative Reform Minister Mohammed Fneish told As Safir newspaper.

“The candidates were interviewed and the issue might be tackled during Friday’s session,” he added.

However, al-Liwaa noted that a consensus had merged to the surface between President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on the name of the candidate to head the Higher Judicial Council.

Cabinet sources said that the meeting between the two under the sponsorship of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi at the Baabda Palace on Sunday, sought to resolve the dispute over the issue.

A Baabda Palace source told As Safir that there’s no dispute over the administrative appointments and they are expected to pass smoothly “but the appointment of head of the Higher Judicial Council will not be discussed on Friday.”

Suleiman and Aoun have been at loggerheads over the appointment of civil servants in posts reserved for Christians. The main point of contention is the head of the HJC.