Date: Jun 27, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Lebanon: Cabinet held up as Aoun hardens stance on LF posts Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: The monthlong Cabinet formation standoff hit a serious impasse Tuesday when President Michel Aoun toughened his position on the Lebanese Forces’ demand for key ministerial posts in the new government, by declaring that it is his constitutional right to choose the deputy prime minister and some ministers in order to monitor the Cabinet’s performance. Aoun’s hard-line stance on the LF’s Cabinet share, also seen as targeting Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri for reportedly supporting the LF’s push for a significant representation in the new government based on the results of last month’s parliamentary elections, was bound to further complicate Hariri’s attempts to form an all-embracing national unity Cabinet. “The Cabinet formation efforts have been put on hold for a couple of weeks as a result of remaining complications over the Lebanese Forces and Druze representation,” a ministerial source familiar with the government formation process The Daily Star Tuesday night. Aoun entered the fray over the Cabinet formation crisis with an unprecedented statement released by his media office. “The president is dealing with the issue of the formation of a new Cabinet on the basis of his powers stipulated in the Constitution ... in addition to laws in force. Although the president does not interfere in the formation mechanism, he will not ignore the powers granted to him by the Constitution and the norms adopted since the [1989] Taif Accord, particularly with regard to the president’s right to choose the deputy prime minister and a number of ministers through whom he monitors the Cabinet’s work and performance in general, based on his constitutional oath to safeguard laws,” the statement said.Aoun urged those seeking to deprive the president from “this consecrated right to review their calculations, correct their bets and revive their memories.” The president is required by the Constitution to “protect national partnership with a government reflecting the broadest possible national representation based on the results of parliamentary elections conducted under a proportional law,” the statement said. “These elections determined the sizes of [representation] of political forces. Therefore, these forces must respect these sizes in order to facilitate the Cabinet formation process,” it added. Aoun’s position came amid a fierce struggle between the Free Patriotic Movement and the LF over Christian representation in the new government casting gloom over the entire Cabinet formation process. It came a day after LF chief Samir Geagea insisted following a meeting with Hariri that his party be represented in the new government based on the results of the May 6 elections in which the LF boosted its parliamentary representation from eight to 15 MPs. A ministerial source sounded pessimistic about an early solution to the Cabinet crisis. “The main problem stems from the LF representation. During last night’s meeting, the LF accepted four ministers, including the position of the deputy prime minister,” the source told The Daily Star, referring to Geagea’s meeting with Hariri at the latter’s Downtown Beirut residence Monday night. “But Aoun is insisting on allotting the deputy prime minister’s post to a minister loyal to him. The dispute is over the deputy prime minister’s post rather than over the number of ministers the LF should get,” he added. “Once the problem of the deputy prime minister’s position is solved, there remains the problem of the Druze representation,” the source said: “The obstacles facing the Cabinet formation are internal ... We are facing two difficult, but not insurmountable problems. This will take time to be solved.” Walid Joumblatt, the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, has insisted that the PSP’s parliamentary Democratic Gathering bloc be allocated the three ministerial posts reserved for the Druze in a 30-member Cabinet. Joumblatt’s demand was apparently aimed at preventing his Druze rival, MP Talal Arslan, from being named as a minister. Earlier in the day, Hariri said he will visit Aoun in the next couple of days to discuss the formation of a new government. Hariri was quoted as saying by news outlet LBCI that progress would not be impeded by the absence of Speaker Nabih Berri, who left Tuesday for Italy with his family on vacation. Hariri Tuesday also chaired the weekly meeting of the Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc, which called on political parties to facilitate the Cabinet formation. “The bloc stresses that the task of forming the government is among the constitutional responsibilities entrusted exclusively to the prime minister-designate, in full cooperation and coordination with the president of the republic,” the bloc said in a statement after the meeting. “The ongoing consultations with parliamentary blocs fall within these responsibilities, which are supposed to take into account in this stage of the history of Lebanon, the necessity of reaching a national entente government whose all its political components cooperate to achieve the required reforms and address the economic, financial and administrative challenges that cannot wait to be solved.” The bloc called on Aoun to play a “pivotal role” in moving away from the circle of waiting and acting with Hariri toward shaping the final formula of the government’s components. Reaffirming its confidence in Hariri’s ability to overcome the obstacles hindering the Cabinet formation, the bloc noted that the prime minister-designate considers that “monetary stability in Lebanon is preserved and that the economic situation will witness a definite start immediately after the formation of the government, which will put CEDRE reforms and its consultative program at the top of its priorities.” Responding to the LF’s demand for key ministerial posts, Bassil said each party would be represented in the new government according to its parliamentary size. “The distribution of rights among groups that will participate in the government is clear. According to the results of elections held under a proportional law, representation in the national unity government will be proportional. This means that each party will be represented in the government according to its size in Parliament,” Bassil told a news conference after chairing the weekly meeting of the FPM’s parliamentary Strong Lebanon bloc.