Date: Aug 29, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Slim chance new talks will break Cabinet deadlock Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Attempts to break the monthslong government formation stalemate intensified Monday with a flurry of consultations following Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri’s return from the Eid al-Adha holiday, amid slim chances of reaching an imminent solution as political rivals stick to their demands for Cabinet shares. In tandem with the parties’ consultations, centering mainly on resolving the problems of Christian and Druze representation – two major hurdles that have so far held up the formation of a new Cabinet representing all the political parties – President Michel Aoun urged Hariri to take the initiative to form government, saying he was waiting for him to come forward with a draft Cabinet lineup. Speaker Nabih Berri also weighed in on the deadlock, which has entered its fourth month with no solution in sight, by calling for the swift formation of a new government. “This situation [Cabinet deadlock] cannot go on in this manner,” Berri told reporters at his Ain al-Tineh residence. Both Aoun and Berri commented on the Cabinet formation crisis after holding talks separately with visiting Swiss President Alain Berset. Asked during a joint news conference with his Swiss counterpart at Baabda Palace to comment on the crisis, Aoun said: “Sectarian and partisan plurality creates a lot of problems when it comes to the formation of a government. “Today, we are listening to the demands of parties and sects and we must find an agreement on them.” “At this stage, the prime minister-designate is the one who will form the government. But in the final stage, there is the president’s prerogative, under which he must be informed [of the Cabinet lineup] and approve it before signing the formation decree. “So far, we are in the first stage and it seems that the prime minister[-designate] had listened enough to the demands and he should take the initiative to form [the government]. I am waiting for him,” Aoun said, according to a statement released by his media office. In what appeared to be a quick response to Aoun’s statement, a source close to the Future Movement told The Daily Star: “Hariri will not step aside; there will be no majority government [excluding some parties]; and Hariri insists on the formation of a national entente government in which all the blocs represented in Parliament participate.” Aoun’s comment came as the government formation process has been stymied by the problems of Christian and Druze representation, as well as demands by Sunni lawmakers not affiliated with the Future Movement to be represented in the next government.The latest development, including the problem of Christian representation – fiercely contested between the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement – was discussed during a meeting between Hariri and caretaker Information Minister Melhem Riachi at the premier-designate’s Downtown Beirut residence Monday. Riachi, one of three LF ministers in the outgoing Cabinet, also handed Hariri an invitation from LF leader Samir Geagea to attend a Mass to be held Sept. 9 by the LF at Geagea’s residence in Maarab to commemorate the “martyrs of the Lebanese resistance” killed during the 1975-1990 Civil War, according to a statement released by Hariri’s media office. Riachi did not speak to reporters after the meeting. Geagea and other LF ministers and lawmakers have blamed caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the FPM leader, for the Cabinet formation standoff. They accuse him of seeking to prevent the LF from obtaining a significant Cabinet share based on the results of the May 6 parliamentary elections, when the party nearly doubled its number of MPs to 15 seats. But Bassil and other FPM officials have accused the LF of demanding more than its fair share in Cabinet. The LF is insisting on being allocated a sovereign ministry among the four ministerial portfolios it was reported to have accepted in the latest proposal to end the Cabinet formation stalemate. Geagea Monday again implicitly blamed Bassil for the Cabinet crisis. “It’s a shame for some to continue obstructing the government formation and the interests of the country and the people for no reason other than the attempt to downsize the Lebanese Forces,” Geagea wrote on his Twitter account. Obstacles to the government formation were discussed during a meeting between Berri and former MP Walid Joumblatt, leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, who refused to budge on his demand for naming the three Druze ministers in the new government. Joumblatt rejected talk about a Druze hurdle blocking the government formation and defended the LF demand for significant Cabinet representation. “There is no Druze obstacle. ... We have won the elections. If new elections were held and we won again, the [Druze] obstacle would return. “And if we lost, congratulations for them [Druze rivals],” the PSP leader told reporters after the meeting with Berri at the speaker’s Ain al-Tineh residence that was also attended by Joumblatt’s son, MP Teymour Joumblatt, and former minister Ghazi Aridi. Caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, a key political aide to Berri, was also present. Citing what he called “terrible indications” on the economic and financial situation provided to him by Khalil, Joumblatt called for the quick formation of the government “because the economic and monetary situation cannot withstand the stalemate.” Joumblatt has insisted on appointing the three ministers allocated for the Druze sect in a 30-member Cabinet. His demand is aimed at preventing his Druze rival, MP Talal Arslan, from obtaining one of the ministerial seats. The PSP leader supported the LF demand to hold four ministerial portfolios – including a sovereign and a service ministry – in the next government. “When the Lebanese Forces had eight MPs, they were represented with four ministers. Now, they have 16 MPs and they are also being offered four ministers. This is illogical and constitutionally and legally incomprehensible,” he said. Taking an indirect jab at Aoun, who insists on allocating the post of the deputy prime minister to one of his loyalists, Joumblatt said: “The demand of the deputy prime minister’s post does not exist [in the Constitution]. The prime minister has right on any occasion to assign any minister to chair a committee. But the deputy prime minister’s post does not exist as far as I know.” The LF is demanding either the post of deputy prime minister or a sovereign ministry in the new government. In Hariri’s caretaker Cabinet, the post of deputy prime minister is held by one of three LF ministers, caretaker Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani. A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on August 27, 2018, on page 1.