Jumblat Rejects Omitting Any Party from Consultations on Formation of New Cabinet

Centrist Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat rejected on Friday to eliminate any Lebanese party from consultations on the formation of the new cabinet, expressing pessimism over the situation in the country after Prime Minister Najib Miqati announced his resignation.

“I refuse to exclude anyone... The situation is critical,” Jumblat said in an interview published in al-Akhabr newspaper.

He noted that Hizbullah will not exert any pressure on him to name any candidate to the premiership similar to 2011, when he was pressed to name Miqati.

The cabinet of ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri was toppled by Hizbullah and its allies in 2011.

Jumblat played a major role in deciding the fate of the majority alliance that made up the government of Miqati.

The March 8 majority led by Hizbullah, backed by some of Jumblat’s 12-member National Struggle Front parliamentary bloc, brought Miqati to the premiership after Hariri’s national unity cabinet was toppled.

“They should realize that the conditions today are not the same as they were in 2011... We're at the heart of the ongoing crisis in Syria,” Jumblat told al-Akhbar.

Miqati announced last week his resignation in light of sharp differences among ministers on the extension of the term of Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and the establishment of the authority that would oversee the upcoming parliamentary elections.

“We should resume the national dialogue,” the Druze leader pointed out.

The March 14 opposition had boycotted in October all political activity with the cabinet of Miqati after it blamed his government for the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief Wissam al-Hasan, demanding its resignation.

The last dialogue session was held in September last year.

Asked about his candidate to the premiership, Jumblat refused to comment, saying: “We have enough time to kick off consultations... The matter isn't up to me.”

However, the MP stressed on the importance of consensus over the name of the nominee.

“I will not name any person until next week but if we agreed to form a technocrat cabinet then (head of the Economic Committees) Adnan Kassar should head it.”

He denied reports saying that Miqati will head again a cabinet divided equally between the March 14 alliance, the March 8 coalition and the centrists.

On Thursday, President Michel Suleiman set April 5 and 6 as the dates of the consultations to name a new prime minister.

Jumblat rejected the appointment of caretaker Energy Minister of Jebran Bassil at the head of the ministry, in addition handing the portfolio of the Telecommunications ministry to the Free Patriotic Movement.

On the new electoral law, the lawmaker held on to his stance regarding the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal, considering it the “greatest evil.”

He rejected to trade-off the extension of the terms of the heads of the security agencies with the approval of the Orthodox draft-law.

Rifi's tenure ends on April 1 as he turns 59, the ISF’s maximum working age.

He has been on the helm of the agency for the past 9 years.

A consensus over an electoral law has yet to be reached among the political foes.

The Orthodox proposal that considers Lebanon a single district and allows each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system, was opposed by Suleiman, Miqati, al-Mustaqbal bloc, the PSP, and the independent Christian MPs of the March 14 opposition, saying it harms the social fabric and increases sectarian tension.

Jumblat said that he will boycott any parliamentary session that includes voting on the draft-law on its agenda.

“The 1960 law is still standing... We will announce our candidates ahead of April 9,” he noted.

Suleiman and Miqati have signed a decree that sets the elections on June 9 based on the 1960 law that was used in the 2009 polls over the lack of agreement between the bickering parliamentary blocs.

Their call have drawn the ire of the March 8 majority coalition, which has totally rejected the law.

Jumblat told al-Akhbar that he rejects the adoption of an electoral law other than a hybrid one that combines winner-takes all and proportional representation systems.