Reports: Salam's New Proposal, a List of 16 Independent Ministers

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam proposed during his meeting with President Michel Suleiman on Saturday, a new government formula composed of 16 independent ministers in a bid to solve the controversial issue of lining up the cabinet, media reports said on Tuesday.

“Salam visited the presidential palace on Saturday with a new idea to form a cabinet composed of 16 independent ministers,” reported al-Akhbar daily.

“According to the PM-designate it is difficult to form a cabinet of 24 ministers because it is hard to find 'non-provocative' ministers,” the paper said, assuring that Suleiman and head of the National Struggling Front Walid Jumblat interfered to stop Salam from going ahead with the 16-member line-up.

Sources following up closely the formation issue hinted that Salam will fail to form the new government.

They pointed to undisclosed attempts to designate a new PM instead of Salam to form a government that includes Hizbullah.

Meanwhile, sources close to Salam defended him and stressed that the latter’s actual efforts to form a cabinet have not exceeded a month, and therefore the line-up is not taking him a long time.

The PM-designate's efforts to form a new government came to a halt in recent weeks in light of the dispute over the extension of parliament's mandate and the political powers' failure to reach an agreement over a new parliamentary electoral law.

Salam will launch new consultations with various political powers to garner their views over the new government after the legislature extended its term for 17 months.