ANSD : Lebanon: Cabinet bid falters over FPM-LF struggle

SAT 23 - 11 - 2024

Date: Jun 26, 2018
Source: The Daily Star

Lebanon: Cabinet bid falters over FPM-LF struggle

_{Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star}
BEIRUT: Cabinet formation efforts appeared Monday to have stumbled after a fierce struggle between the country’s two main Christian parties, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces, over the community’s representation in the new government, raising doubts about an imminent breakthrough in the monthlong Cabinet standoff.

This comes as President Michel Aoun and caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the FPM leader, were accused of seeking to deprive the LF of obtaining a significant representation in the new government commensurate with its gains in last month’s parliamentary elections.

LF chief Samir Geagea insisted after a meeting with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri Monday night 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.

“With regard to [ministerial] portfolios and size [of representation], there are election results which led to new sizes that cannot be ignored,” Geagea told reporters after meeting Hariri at the premier-designate’s Downtown Beirut residence.

He rejected the notion that the LF representation was posing hurdles to the Cabinet formation. “I think the government formation lies with the president and the prime minister-designate,” he said.

Asked if he was ready to make concessions to facilitate the Cabinet formation, Geagea said: “The facilities that we can offer is by refraining from responding to the offenses against us.”

He was referring to smear campaigns launched by FPM officials against LF ministers’ performance in Hariri’s caretaker Cabinet.

Reiterating the LF’s support for Aoun’s term, Geagea said his party would stop “political rhetoric concerning the Cabinet formation out of our desire to help the prime minister in forming it.”

Geagea also said that the LF had adhered to the 2016 Maarab Understanding signed by him and Aoun that contributed to Aoun’s election as president. Earlier, a member of the LF’s parliamentary Strong Republic bloc, lashed out at Bassil, accusing him of seeking to monopolize power in Lebanon.

“Bassil is trying to downsize all political forces, particularly the Lebanese Forces. His goal is to have a monopoly over power and he wants to rule Lebanon,” LF’s MP Wehbi Qatisha told The Daily Star.

“Bassil wants to marginalize the Lebanese Forces and [Walid Joumblatt’s parliamentary] Democratic Gathering bloc. This man [Bassil] is an eliminator. He wants to monopolize all the important ministries in the government,” Qatisha said.

He accused Bassil of obstructing the Cabinet formation with his attempts to prevent the LF from

obtaining key ministerial posts. “If Bassil insists on monopolizing the government and power, it will be difficult for the government to be formed soon,” Qatisha added.Encouraged by its parliamentary gains, the LF is seeking five ministerial posts as well as the position of the deputy premier, a political source said.

The source added that the LF’s demand is being opposed by the FPM, which also made gains in the elections, increasing its 21 MPs to 29, including allies.

Aoun was also reported to be seeking the position of deputy premier, currently held by caretaker Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani from the LF, for a minister loyal to him.

Two developments signaled that Hariri’s attempts to form a new government have suffered a setback, more than a month after he was reappointed to the premiership for the third time, having gained an overwhelming parliamentary majority following last month’s elections.

Hariri did not visit Baabda Palace Sunday or Monday as originally planned to get Aoun’s response to the premier-designate’s proposal to resolve the problems over the representation of the LF and Druze.

In a proposal presented to Aoun earlier this month, Hariri outlined the Cabinet shares among the blocs with the largest representation based on the results of the elections. His move was seen as aimed at accelerating the Cabinet formation. During their meeting at Baabda Palace last Friday, Hariri did not present any draft Cabinet lineup, but was reported to have presented Aoun with an amended proposal on the representation of the LF and the Progressive Socialist Party in the new government.

PSP leader Walid Joumblatt has insisted that his Democratic Gathering bloc be allotted 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. Arslan has insisted on being represented with one Druze minister.

Media reports said Aoun and Bassil are taking a tough stance on the size of the LF’s representation in the government and portfolios. An-Nahar newspaper, quoting ministerial sources familiar with the Cabinet formation process, said the presidential team and the FPM are “pressuring to undercut the LF representation, while Hariri refuses this and supports a weighty representation for the LF and the PSP.”

Speaker Nabih Berri is set to leave for Italy Tuesday with his family on vacation, ruling out any imminent headway in the Cabinet formation crisis.

A member of Berri’s 17-member parliamentary Development and Liberation bloc painted a gloomy outlook.

“So far, there are no indications that the government will be formed soon or in the next few days,” MP Ali Khreis said in a local TV interview. He cited what he called “inter-Christian differences,” as well as the Druze and Sunni representation as major obstacles.

Amid the escalation of the FPM-LF rift over Cabinet representation, an unexpected row broke out between the FPM and the Future Movement.

In a front-page lead report Monday, Al-Mustaqbal newspaper said Hariri’s efforts to form a new government have been stalled by the “invention” of new norms, in an implicit criticism of the FPM’s approach.

Quoting sources following up the Cabinet formation consultations, the paper, which is aligned to Hariri’s Future Movement, said there have been attempts to “invent new norms” regarding control of ministeral portfolios – specifically that of deputy prime minister – that undermined Hariri’s efforts to reach a consensus among the government’s components.

“The sources explained that naming a deputy prime minister is not linked to any political side through the Constitution or an established norm, but it is related to agreement on the distribution of government shares and the decision [in this regard] goes back to the prime minister in coordination with the president,” Al-Mustaqbal’s report said.

“The only known and recognized norm is that which is exclusively linked to the distribution of the four sovereign ministries: Interior, Defense, Finance and Foreign Affairs,” the daily said, quoting the same sources which warned that if the series of “norms” continued, this would obstruct the Cabinet formation process.

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