Report: Salam Working within Ten-Day Deadline to Form New Govt.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam is unlikely to follow the lead of his predecessor Najib Miqati, who took too long in forming a new government, but he is keen on establishing one that will oversee the elections, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

Observers monitoring his activity told the daily that Salam is working within a ten-day deadline within which he will announce the formation of a new cabinet.

They noted that the premier-designate had completed his consultations with the president, speaker, caretaker prime minister, and parliamentary blocs and he is therefore now capable of coming up with a government that will meet their demands under his slogan of a cabinet of national interests.

He is working in accordance to the constitution and he will therefore not allow any power to impose its conditions on him, they stressed.

Moreover, they deemed the leaks over the identities of potential ministers of the new government as an attempt to force Salam to conduct a new round of consultations, “which will not happen because each bloc has already expressed its vision of a new cabinet.”

“In the end, the premier-designate will act as a leader, not a messenger,” remarked the observers.

Sources meanwhile told al-Joumhouria daily Saturday that the leaks are aimed at pressuring Salam to adopt a certain government formation.

“No one can impose their candidates on the prime minister-designate and he will not follow the conduct that was adopted in previous government-formation processes,” they noted.

“He is seeking the establishment of a cabinet that can oversee the elections and it will therefore not include any factional or provocative figures,” they added.

The March 8 forces on Friday voiced dismay after media reports said Salam intends to form a small, technocrat cabinet and after the names of its alleged members were leaked.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, ex-Minister Jean Obeid, former Minister Ziad Baroud, Raed Sharafeddine, former MP Nasser Nasrallah, Bahij Abou Hamze, Nicolas Nahhas and Mohammed al-Mashnouq are among the names that are being considered for the new government, according to several local newspapers.

Change and Reform bloc MP Nabil Nicola criticized the leaked lineup during an interview on OTV.

“If technocrat means that the minister should be totally neutral, I think the political affiliation of some of the published names is very well-known,” Nicola said, in an indirect reference to Abou Hamze, who is close to Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat.

The March 8 forces have called for forming a political, national unity cabinet while the March 14 forces have called for forming a neutral, technocrat cabinet. And while Salam has said that he is seeking a cabinet to oversee the parliamentary polls that does not contain MP hopefuls, Jumblat has reassured March 8 that he will not vote for a one-sided government.