Reports: Salam reaches agreement with 'Duo', seeks to resolve 'Christian and Sunni hurdles'

Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam has reached an agreement with the Shiite Duo over its representation in the new government, following lengthy and strenuous negotiations, media reports said on Sunday.

"Four portfolios will be given to the Duo, including finance, which will go to former minister and MP Yassine Jaber, while the fifth Shiite in the cabinet line-up will be named by the PM-designate and the president in consultation with the Duo," informed sources told the Progressive Socialist Party's al-Anbaa news portal.

The Lebanese Forces is meanwhile "not satisfied with the mechanism adopted in forming the government and the allotment of the LF portfolios," the sources added, noting that the LF is "demanding a sovereign portfolio, specifically foreign affairs."

"The LF is insisting on its stance and is linking its participation in the presidential term's first government to the fulfillment of the aforementioned demand and to endorsing a unity of standards in formation," the sources added.

There are also hurdles related to the representation of the Free Patriotic Movement and the Sunni forces, media reports said.