Cabinet Formation Consultations Activated Yet No Solution Looms in Horizon

Premier-designate Tammam Salam has agreed to give the cabinet formation efforts more time after warnings by Speaker Nabih Berri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat against the formation of a fait accompli government, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported Sunday.

“We waited for nine months to reach a solution and consensus that would steer the country away from divisions on the cabinet but nothing came up from the procrastination,” the newspaper quoted Salam as saying.

But the PM-designate informed Jumblat, who held dinner at his residence on Friday, that he would give it a few more days to find certain solutions pending President Michel Suleiman's return to Beirut from a private visit abroad.

Sources told al-Hayat that Salam's agreement to give consultations on the cabinet formation more time did not mean that he was giving up on his proposal to have a nonpartisan government.

Jumblat exerted the pressure on Salam after he met with Berri's political advisor Caretaker Minister Ali Hassan Khalil.

Consultations between the different parties continued on Saturday through talks between Jumblat's envoy, caretaker Minister Wael Abou Faour, and Berri, An Nahar daily reported.

Officials from Hizbullah and the speaker's Amal movement, said there was a serious willingness to find a solution to the cabinet deadlock.

The efforts exerted by Suleiman, Berri and Jumblat through their envoys reflect the continued contact between the different parties involved in the cabinet formation process, the officials told An Nahar.

Despite the optimism, the officials confirmed that no progress has yet been made in the negotiations.

The March 8 alliance has been calling for a government in which it would get nine ministers along with March 14, and centrists six.

But the March 14 camp has been sticking to a nonpartisan cabinet.