Jumblat Calls for a National Unity Cabinet, Rejects Attempts to Divide Security Agencies

Progressive Socialist Party Chief MP Walid Jumblat called on Sunday for a national unity cabinet, rejecting attempts to divide security agencies on sectarian basis.

“A national unity cabinet should be formed as the ongoing vacuum disables attempts to resolves crises and halts the economy and people's living,” Former PSP's secretary Sharif Fayyad said quoting Jumblat at a press conference.

The PSP canceled a ceremony set to commemorate the annual anniversary of the PSP martyrs in Aley after a blast that rocked Ruwais neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday.

The death toll from a car bombing that ripped through Ruwais has risen to at least 27 and wounded 336 others.

However, the PSP replaced the ceremony with a press conference where Fayyad said Jumblat's speech.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam is seeking the formation of a 24-member cabinet in which the March 8, March 14 and the centrists camps would each get eight ministers and rejects to grant the veto power to any side.

However, the formation consultations are expected to slow down as Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker PM Najib Miqati are on a vacation outside the country and Suleiman is expected to leave on a private vacation on August 18.

The March 8 alliance has meanwhile been demanding that it granted veto power in a new cabinet, which the premier-designate has repeatedly rejected.

While the March 14 coalition is calling for keeping Hizbullah away from the cabinet lineup over its role in Syria's war.

Jumblat described in his speech that attempts to divide the security agencies on sectarian basis as “a strong hit to the latest efforts exerted to safeguard the country.”

Fayyad reiterated the Druze leader's calls for dialogue, stressing that the PSP is holding onto “dialogue, civil peace and stability.”

“The PSP never hesitated to sacrifice to protect Lebanon,” Fayyad quoted Jumblat as saying.

He voiced the party's support to the revolution in Syria, calling on the opposition in the neighboring country to “unite.”

Hizbullah is a key supporter of President Bashar Assad and has sent fighters across the border to Syria this year to bolster government forces, which have been battling a deadly anti-regime revolt since March 2011.

Lebanon is deeply divided into supporters and opponents of the regime in neighboring Syria and the conflict now in its third year has stoked sectarian tensions and violence in the country.