Some have begun to worry that Lebanon will continue to have four major heads of state rather than three (president, prime minister and speaker), on Lebanon’s Independence Day on November 22, with the government crisis continuing and PM-designate Saad Hariri remaining in his temporary post, redrawing the same exact picture we saw on Army Day on August 1.
Majority Sources have reported that the situation is no longer at “square one,” but rather is stuck between the proposals that PM-designate Saad Hariri has offered and MP Michel Aoun has thus far rejected.
The sources said that PM-designate Hariri has offered General Aoun the Ministry of Telecommunications, as long as Minister Gebran Bassil does not retain that post, alongside Tourism, Culture and the displaced ministries.
Furthermore, they blamed the FPM of getting in the way of forming the cabinet, because and also according to the same sources, General Aoun has rejected the stipulation that someone other than Bassil could head the Ministry of Telecommunications and has demanded at least one additional fundamental portfolio, such as Energy or Education.
On the other hand, the FPM leader MP General Aoun speaking in a dinner held on Sunday for the Free Patriotic Movement’s lawyers refuted the majority’s allegations. “The parties who accuse us of obstructing the cabinet formation cannot prove it.”
On the contrary, the General said,” I think they are afraid of the concept of a “True State”. It exists, general Aoun assured the crowd, in countries such as France and Taiwan, where their former Presidents are facing trial, accused of corruption.
General Aoun called for all parties to act responsibly since, “they are in charge of future generations and of preserving values, not politics.”
In parallel, opposition talks and mediations, particularly those of MP Suleiman Franjieh and Hezbollah’s representative at Rabieh, have been quelled within the majority while the opposition has described them as means to get negotiations moving. In addition, the opposition had the “assembly” of its representatives in Zahle yesterday to stand alongside Minister Elias Skaff as the Popular Bloc released a message that it would “show its commitment and solidarity with General Aoun,” according to opposition sources.
A majority source told An-Nahar that “the opposition’s demands are known, and we have offered as much as is possible,” and that “more will not be offered.”
Sources in the Change and Reform bloc said that a meeting between Hariri and Aoun would be held soon “when Hariri has an answer to any of the three formulas presented to him by General Aoun.”
Regionally, Syrian President told reporters on the sidelines of his visit to “Zagreb” that the cabinet formation “is purely Lebanese, and neither Syria nor Saudi Arabia will form it for them”. While “el-Watan” daily reported on Monday that the majority intended to “blackmail” the opposition over the weekend by threatening to keep outgoing Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in office if the opposition does not retract its demand for swapping all ministerial portfolios without exception.
Will the government formation really be postponed for weeks if not more? Is Lebanon going to live in this impasse forever?
No predictions anymore awaiting Hariri’s-Aoun new meeting, and a miracle from our Mighty Lord.
By Hala Najjar, Tayyar.org English Staff.