Report: Salam to Kick Off New Efforts to Form Govt. by Meeting Suleiman next Week
Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam is expected to relaunch a new round of efforts to form a new government by continuing his meetings with top officials, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper Saturday.
It revealed that he is scheduled to hold talks with President Michel Suleiman on Tuesday at the Baabda Palace.
He had held talks on Wednesday with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat.
The daily said that his latest round of consultations have resulted in ruling out the formation of a neutral government in favor of a political one.
The new government formula could be based on the equal distribution of seats by granting each alliance eight ministers in a 24-member cabinet or ten ministers in a 30-member government.
Informed sources told the daily however that the March 8 camp's insistence on obtaining veto power in the new cabinet remains the main obstacle in the formation process.
Suleiman has rejected this suggestion with Salam saying that granting any bloc this power would render the government ineffective.
Following the resignation of Premier Najib Miqati's cabinet in March, Salam was designated to line up a cabinet, amid conflicting positions between the March 14 alliance that demands forming an impartial cabinet, the March 8 forces insisting on forming a political one, and Jumblat's objection to a cabinet that does not represent all Lebanese factions.
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