Report: Parties' demands, foreign pressure force govt. line-up change

Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam has run into “the demands of all political forces” and his problem is not only about reaching an agreement with the Shiite Duo, al-Jadeed TV has reported.

“The draft cabinet line-up that surfaced over the past two days has been dropped and the inclination is to form a government of competencies that would be distant from political parties,” al-Jadeed said.

“The domestic scene that accompanied the government formation consultations sparked the concern of the five-nation group for Lebanon,” the TV network added.

“Lebanon has received messages from a regional-international alliance that the most important guarantees for regaining the international community’s confidence would be forming a government not containing a one-third veto power, a third signature or the army-people-resistance equation,” al-Jadeed said.

It added that the new government might comprise figures such as Tarek Mitri, Paul Salem, Ghassan Salameh, Amer al-Bsat, Samir Assaf and others.