Arslan Insists on Getting a Portfolio
Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal Arslan said that a meeting held between March 8 officials in parliament on Wednesday focused on solving the obstacles that are delaying the cabinet formation.
Arslan told As Safir newspaper on Thursday that hints that a dispute between President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun was obstructing the formation of the government are “not true.”
A meeting was held on Wednesday on the sidelines of a legislative session and gathered Speaker Nabih Berri, Premier-designate Najib Miqati, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat, head of Hizbullah’s Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad, Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh, Arslan and President of the Syrian Social National Party Assaad Hardan.
The newspaper reported that there are ongoing obstacles in the portfolio that will be assigned to Arslan and the Sunni opposition representative.
The MP reiterated his rejection to be assigned as a State Minister. He has repeatedly demanded a portfolio as a condition for his participation in the cabinet.
As for Hardan, he said that the expanded meeting paved way for communication among the different parties.
He told As Safir that the meeting was “positive” and “necessary” because it set the country’s best interest and the cabinet formation as a priority. “The Premier-designate should speed up the government formation process,” Hardan said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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