Cabinet Formation Efforts Make Progress as New Suggestions Await Consensus
Discussions on the formation of the cabinet made progress in the past 24 hours amid a report that Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun would get 10 ministers and the interior minister would be a consensual figure.
An Nahar daily said Tuesday that efforts are underway to convince Aoun into accepting a 10-minister share among which two are state ministries. As for the interior ministry, President Michel Suleiman would name a neutral minister who gets the consent of Aoun and other March 8 forces.
Under this proposal, Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc would get 10 ministers, including 8 portfolios and 2 state ministers. A Sunni former opposition minister would be named and another Catholic from the March 8 forces.
As for the Shiites, six ministries would be divided among Hizbullah, Amal and the Syrian Social National Party. Furthermore, Suleiman, Premier-designate Najib Miqati and MP Walid Jumblat would get 11 ministers.
Miqati’s circles confirmed to As Safir daily that contacts between involved officials made major progress, saying discussions reached the stage of distribution of portfolios except for continued disagreement on the interior ministry portfolio.
While they denied that foreign interference was delaying the formation of the cabinet, they stressed that the interior ministry obstacle should not be underestimated.
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