Date: Dec 13, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Lebanon: MPs pour cold water on Cabinet prospects Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: A group of six Hezbollah-backed Sunni MPs cast gloom on the optimism that prevailed Wednesday regarding a potential breakthrough in the government formation impasse after meeting with President Michel Aoun. Walid Sukkarieh, one of the six lawmakers not affiliated with the Future Movement, claimed there was no solution in sight because Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri appeared to be adamant in his stance against representing the group in the new Cabinet. Meanwhile, Hariri said he was waiting for the results of an initiative Aoun launched earlier this week to resolve the crisis. He said he hoped Aoun’s consultations with various politicians would lead to positive results. “The government should have already been formed. “I am ready, the names are ready and so is the distribution of the portfolios. Everybody knows from where the disruption is coming,” Hariri told reporters on the sidelines of the Lebanon-U.K. Business and Investment Forum in London. He was clearly referring to Hezbollah, whose insistence that the six MPs be represented in the new government has blocked the Cabinet formation. “President Aoun is holding contacts and all the Lebanese appreciate what he is doing and we are doing what should be done. “I hope that the contacts will lead to positive results. “Today I felt a positive vibe and we will remain optimistic for the country’s interest,” Hariri said. Asked about a proposal for an 18- or 24-member Cabinet instead of the planned 30-member government as a means of breaking the deadlock, he said: “All proposals are good. The country needs a government. Full stop.” Aoun’s meeting with the six lawmakers came in the context of consultations he began this week with Speaker Nabih Berri and Hariri as part of an initiative designed to end the Cabinet formation deadlock. The president has also met with a Hezbollah delegation. Aoun’s talks are focusing on proposals to resolve the issue, which is the final obstacle holding up the formation of a government. “No breakthrough was made in the meeting between President Aoun and the six Sunni lawmakers because the six MPs are insisting on being represented in the government, while the prime minister-designate is opposing this,” a source at Baabda Palace told The Daily Star. The source said Aoun did not present any specific proposal to the six MPs to resolve their problem. “The talks centered on a host of ideas that are part of the president’s initiative,” he said. Although no details of Aoun’s initiative have been disclosed, the source said one of the ideas being discussed calls for representing the six MPs from the president’s share, either with one of the six or a candidate from outside their group. Asked where matters stood now after the six MPs ruled out a solution soon, the source said: “The situation is heading toward further consultations with a view to reaching a solution to the crisis.” Sukkarieh reiterated their position on one of the six being represented in the next Cabinet. “It is normal for us to support the president’s initiative and his continuing efforts with all the parties to reach a solution to this problem because we are all keen on Lebanon,” Sukkarieh told reporters after the meeting with Aoun at Baabda Palace. “But it does seem so far that there isn’t a solution to this issue because the prime minister-designate is still adamant on his position and he only announced that he entirely rejected recognizing the results of the [May] parliamentary elections.” “He [Hariri] is determined that the Future Movement entirely monopolize the representation of the Sunni sect, while the other sects are represented by more than one group,” he said. Sukkarieh said the six appealed to Aoun concerning their right to be represented in the next Cabinet. “We are demanding our right and we are not attacking the others’ right. We are six allied MPs who were elected by the people. ... We have the right in a national unity government representing all the parties to be represented by a minister from the six MPs,” he said. Declaring that Aoun’s initiative has not failed and will go on, he said: “The ball is now in the premier-designate’s court because Prime Minister Hariri has refused to recognize the election results.” Prior to his meeting with the MPs, the president said he expected his consultations to yield results “in the next few days.” “We have worked on resolving the government formation crisis,” Aoun was quoted as saying in a statement released by the president’s media office. During his weekly meeting with lawmakers at his Ain al-Tineh residence, Berri said he was optimistic there would be a breakthrough. “Speaker Berri is optimistic and has expressed flexibility to facilitate the formation of a new government,” MP Ali Bazzi from the speaker’s parliamentary Development and Liberation bloc told reporters after the meeting. Addressing the lawmakers, Berri said he hoped that Aoun’s consultations would lead to the formation of a government soon. “We need a homogenous and coherent government to carry out its responsibilities toward a lot of challenges that we are facing on all levels,” he was quoted as saying. Caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, who is accompanying Hariri on his visit to London, also struck an upbeat tone about the Cabinet formation. “The partnership between the president and prime minister-designate will definitely lead to the formation a new government, despite the obstacles,” Bassil said in a speech at the Lebanon-U.K. Business and Investment Forum. As part of his consultations on the Cabinet crisis, Aoun met with a delegation from the Progressive Socialist Party’s parliamentary Democratic Gathering led by lawmaker Teymour Joumblatt. He also met with a delegation from the Tashnag Party, led by MP Hagop Pakradounian. “We appreciate the president’s positions and we underscore our positive relationship with him,” Joumblatt said after the meeting.