Bombings Bring Cabinet Formation Efforts to Standstill
Soaring political tensions and two terrorist explosions that have rocked the country in the past week have brought the efforts of President Michel Suleiman and Premier-designate Tammam Salam to form a new government to a standstill.
Several local dailies quoted highly informed sources as saying on Friday that the possibilities to form a cabinet in the coming days have withered following the bombing that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs a day earlier.
“Lebanon's crisis is back to square one,” they said, adding that there were “no solutions” to the rivalry between the March 8 and 14 alliances.
The Hizbullah-led March 8 camp wants a national unity cabinet based on the 9-9-6 formula but the March 14 coalition is calling for a nonpartisan government.
Ex-Finance Minister Mohammed Shatah, 62, was killed last Friday along with several other people in a car bomb blast in downtown Beirut.
Shatah was the adviser of former Prime Minister and al-Mustaqbal movement leader.
Thursday's bombing in Haret Hreik district of Beirut's southern suburbs, which left at least four dead, further raised the specter of a sharply divided Lebanon being pulled into the Syrian conflict.
An Nahar daily quoted Baabda Palace officials as saying that the terrorist attacks underscore the need for a government that prevents security incidents from taking place.
But the officials stressed that contacts between Suleiman, Salam and the different political parties were ongoing to form an “all-embracing cabinet.”
The officials seemed to be hinting that the president has no intention to form a fait accompli government, which the March 8 alliance has totally rejected.
They told An Nahar that Suleiman will exert all efforts to stop the conditions and the counter-conditions that are preventing the formation of a cabinet that takes into account all the parties’ balance of power.
Officials close to Salam refused to comment to al-Joumhouria daily on the new line-up after reports that a 14-member cabinet was in the making.
Media reports had said that the cabinet formation decree would be announced next week.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/112377 |