By Hussein Dakroub
Saturday, February 12, 2011

BEIRUT: The formation of a new government has been delayed until next week as Christian factions of the March 14 coalition have resumed talks with Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on their possible participation, a source close to Mikati said Friday.

“The March 14 [bloc] has demanded a resumption of dialogue with Prime Minister[-designate] Mikati to discuss its participation in the government. The two sides are now exchanging views. Mikati hopes to reach positive results that will speed up the government’s formation,” the source told The Daily Star.

Mikati, who is backed by the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance, wants to find out if the March 14 coalition now has anything new to propose, after previous talks on the coalition’s participation in the government collapsed earlier this week, the source said. He added that Mikati will reject any conditions laid down by any party for its participation in the government.

The new Cabinet is unlikely to be announced before the middle of next week as Monday and Tuesday are official holidays. Monday marks the sixth anniversary of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Tuesday is the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad.
Mikati has had unannounced contact with both March 8 and March 14 groups on forming a government to replace caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s toppled Cabinet, the source said.

The source said Mikati was not encountering “major hurdles” in his attempts to form the government. “The various parties are making conflicting demands concerning the portfolios which the premier-designate is trying to reconcile,” the source said.
He added that Mikati still preferred the formation of a 24-member Cabinet, but if the March 14 bloc decided to participate, the number of ministers would be raised to 30 as was the case in Hariri’s Cabinet.

Before the March 14 bloc’s decision to resume talks with Mikati, the premier-designate was working to form a 24-member government, made up mainly of politicians and some technocrats. Such a government was to be dominated by the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition.
A row between President Michel Sleiman and MP Michel Aoun, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, over the interior portfolio was holding up the Cabinet’s formation.

A political source ruled out the March 14 bloc’s participation in the government, saying the renewed talks with Mikati were designed to delay the Cabinet’s formation.
Mikati is not happy with the attitude of Aoun, who still insists that Sleiman must not be given any key portfolio in the government, arguing that the political equation has changed after the March 8 coalition secured a parliamentary majority, the source said.

Sleiman defended Mikati’s appointment to form a new government as democratic. “It is a democratic process. What happened in Lebanon was the rotation of power in a democratic manner,” Sleiman told a delegation of Kuwaiti journalists, according to a statement issued by Baabda Palace.

He said Mikati was appointed to form a new government following parliamentary consultations which resulted in Mikati winning the votes of 68 lawmakers against 60 for Hariri. “Consultations are continuing to issue the decree on the formation of the new government in agreement with the prime minister,” Sleiman said.

Mikati was appointed by Sleiman on Jan. 25 to form a new government to replace Hariri’s toppled Cabinet. However, Mikati’s appointment sparked nationwide public protests by Hariri’s supporters last month in condemnation of Mikati because he was the candidate of Hezbollah and its March 8 allies.

Kataeb (Phalange) leader Amin Gemayel said his party was making contacts with all the factions concerned in order to study “new proposals” aimed at facilitating Mikati’s mission.
“We hope to reach a solution that can restore confidence among the leaders and a hope for the Lebanese,” Gemayel told the Voice of Lebanon radio station.

“We have sincerely tried to find a solution for the current Cabinet crisis … Despite the obstacles we faced, we consider that in politics we must always keep a glimmer of hope and deal positively with constructive initiatives,” he said.

Gemayel, who has held three meetings with Mikati, announced Monday that talks on the March 14 bloc’s participation in the government had reached a dead end, blaming Hezbollah and its March 8 allies for the failure of the talks. Gemayel accused Hezbollah and its March 8 allies of seeking to unilaterally control the new government by putting “impossible conditions” on the participation of March 14.

But sources close to Mikati said the reason for the stalemate in the talks was Mikati’s refusal to make a written commitment on a list of demands presented to Mikati last month by Hariri’s Future parliamentary bloc.

The demands, among other things, call on Mikati to uphold the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in the face of repeated calls from Hezbollah and its allies to sever all links with the tribunal. Hariri’s bloc also sought a public commitment from the prime minister-designate that he would not end Lebanon’s links with the STL by canceling the cooperation protocol with the tribunal, withdrawing Lebanese judges and halting funding for the the court.

Beirut MP Jean Hogassapian from Hariri’s Future bloc ruled out the participation of March 14 in the new government. “The contacts between Prime Minister[-designate] Mikati and March 14 leaders are meant for show because the decision has already been taken to form a one-sided government,” he told the Voice of Lebanon radio station.
Hogassapian added that the March 14 camp has shown “honest intentions” regarding participation in the new government.

Mikati has repeatedly said he wants all political parties to be represented in his government. But he has signaled that he would form a mixed government of politicians and technocrats if the March 14 coalition decided to stay out. Hariri has said that his Future bloc would not join a government headed by a March 8-backed candidate.