Possible govt. solution emerges as Hezbollah reportedly presses Bassil

The so-called Druze seat obstacle that is part of many hurdles delaying the new Cabinet’s formation might be resolved through replacing caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine with former minister Manal Abdel Samad, a media report said on Tuesday.

“The current format that is being discussed calls for replacing six ministers: three Christians, including Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and Administrative Development Minister Najla Riachi, in addition to the Druze minister and two other ministers – Youssef Khalil (Shiite) and Amin Salam (Sunni),” unnamed sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper.

Another obstacle still delaying the government’s formation is related to “the Christian share that Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil wants, seeing as he wants to name all its ministers without giving the PM-designate the right to express opinion or object,” the sources said.

Hezbollah has meanwhile “strongly intervened to reconcile viewpoints regarding Bassil’s demands through seeking to convince him not to insist on naming ministerial candidates from his party in order not to embarrass Mikati and provoke the Sunni community,” the sources added.