March 8 Linking Cabinet Formation to Deal on Electoral Law

The Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance is putting obstacles to Premier-designate Tammam Salam's work to slow down the cabinet formation process over its priority to first clinch a deal on a new electoral law, reports said Tuesday.

An Nahar daily quoted sources as saying that the coalition prioritizes an agreement among rival parties on the vote law and considers the formation of the government as a secondary item.

Salam has said he wanted to form a small “government of national interest” whose main task will be the supervision of the elections. But Hizbullah and its allies have called for the a national unity cabinet made up of political figures as the only solution to the country’s political problems.

Officials, who visited the PM-designate, quoted him as saying that he had enough time to form his government.

“If it is meant to succeed then I will continue my mission. But if not, then I will not make compromises and decide to step down,” Salam reportedly said.

But March 8 sources stressed that the coalition will not agree for any side to name the ministers that will represent it.

“March 8 alone names its ministers,” the sources told An Nahar.

The coalition's insistence to have the first and final say on the ministers who will represent it in case Salam forms a cabinet of political figures was reflected in a report in al-Liwaa daily.

The newspaper quoted sources as saying that the Free Patriotic Movement has put a veto on caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.

March 8 has also rejected giving portfolios to former ministers Elias Murr and Jean Obeid, the sources said.