Geagea: No Final Stance Yet on Participation in All-Embracing Cabinet
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea said Saturday that the March 14 alliance hasn't yet decided whether it would participate in a 24-member national unity government.
In remarks to al-Jadeed TV, Geagea said: “We haven't yet decided on our participation in an 8-8-8 cabinet.”
There has been a flurry of political activity in the past days to win the approval of the March 14 alliance to participate in a cabinet in which it would get eight ministers similar to March 8 and centrists.
But reports said Saturday that Geagea had rejected to have ministers in a government in which Hizbullah has representatives.
His ally al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri held a one-hour telephone conversation with him on Friday.
But Geagea told al-Jadeed that Hariri hasn't yet taken a final decision on the March 14 alliance's participation in the 8-8-8 cabinet and did not try to convince him to do so.
“Consultations on the formation of the government are going,” the LF chief added.
President Michel Suleiman said Friday that Hariri had sent “positive signals” on accepting the 8-8-8 formula.
But he hinted that he would sign a decree to form a non partisan cabinet, which the March 8 alliance describes as a de facto government, before the end of the month if the rival parties failed to reach consensus on the new proposal.
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