Salam Refuses to Set Date to Announce New Cabinet, but 'Won't Wait Forever to Form it'

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam reiterated on Sunday that he is seeking to form a cabinet of national interest.

He also refused to set a date to announce the new government.

He made his remarks before political, popular, and economic delegations that visited his Msaytbeh residence.

“The announcement of the new government is linked to several factors and the ongoing consultations with several political powers,” he added.

He repeated that he is open to suggestions from all sides.

Salam's efforts to form a new government are ongoing as he has maintained his consultations with President Michel Suleiman and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat to that end, reported the daily An Nahar Sunday.

His visitors told the daily however that he “will not wait forever to form a new cabinet.”

Observers monitoring the government formation process said that the situation is “very critical,” with discussions focusing on the positive and negative results of Salam forming a government before the May 15 parliament session aimed at adopting a new parliamentary electoral law.

They noted that his announcement of a cabinet after this date will not alter the March 8 camp's insistence to obtain veto power in the government, which Salam has been adamant in rejecting.

He has repeatedly said that such a power will render the cabinet ineffective.

The head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad denied on Saturday that the March 8 coalition's demand was aimed at paralyzing the new government.

“It is our right to be represented in it according to our parliamentary weight. This is a moral, practical and constitutional right,” he declared.

The latest discussions over the formation of the cabinet have focused on the distribution of power, with Salam insisting that the March 8 camp be granted eight ministers.

This includes having the AMAL and Hizbullah parties naming the four Shiite ministers, while the fifth one will be named by someone who is not part of this alliance, such as President Michel Suleiman, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat Sunday.

Speaker Nabih Berri had reportedly objected to this proposal and suggested instead that if another side, besides AMAL and Hizbullah, were to name the fifth Shiite minister, then he should be entitled to name the fifth Sunni minister in cabinet.

He will then be included as an additional member of the March 8 camp's eight-member bloc, should Salam's proposal of a 24-minister cabinet be adopted.

Al-Hayat said that the premier-designate had rejected Berri's suggestion, saying that it is a veiled attempt to obtain veto power.

Salam had instead agreed that Berri name the fifth Shiite minister in the alliance's eight-minister bloc.

The remaining three ministers will be named by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.

The PM-designate reportedly also did not oppose that the speaker name a Sunni minister in cabinet, on condition that he part of the March 8 camp's portion of the government.

Salam had repeatedly said that he advocates the formation of a 24-minister government that sees the equal distribution of portfolios between the March 8, March 14, and centrist camps, whereby each side would be granted eight ministers.