Jumblat Meets Miqati Away from Spotlight

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati held a meeting two days ago away from the media spotlight, An Nahar newspaper reported on Friday.

Sources described the meeting as normal as the two officials consistently hold meetings to discuss the latest local and regional developments, in addition to the cabinet formation process.

Endeavors are ongoing to end the cabinet deadlock amid reports that President Michel Suleiman insists on forming it ahead of the Independence Day on November 22 based on any distribution of portfolios as long as the rival parties agree.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam continuously said that conditions and counter-conditions set by the rival sides have brought his efforts to form a cabinet to a stalemate.

Since his appointment to form a cabinet in April, Salam has been seeking the formation of a 24-member cabinet in which the March 8, March 14 and centrists camps would each get eight ministers.

However, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah expressed support to Jumblat's proposal to form a new cabinet in which the March 8 and 14 alliances would get nine ministers each and six ministers would be given to the centrists – Suleiman, Salam and Jumblat.

This formula prevents a certain party from controlling the government by giving veto power to Hizbullah and its team and another veto power to March 14, he said.