Suleiman Meets Miqati as Govt Formation Impasse Enters 4th Month

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati on Tuesday held talks with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace away from the media spotlight, state-run National News Agency reported.

Talks tackled "the latest developments concerning the cabinet formation process in light of the ongoing consultations and contacts," NNA added.

The two men also discussed the latest developments in Lebanon and the region.

Miqati returned to Beirut from London on Monday night and immediately resumed discussions with March 8 officials to end the cabinet formation impasse that entered its fourth month.

He held talks with Speaker Nabih Berri's aide MP Ali Hasan Khalil, and Hussein Khalil, the assistant of Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, at the prime minister-designate's residence in Beirut on Monday.

On Tuesday, he met with Berri in Ain el-Tineh in the presence of Hassan Khalil. They discussed the cabinet formation efforts, the National News Agency said.

Despite the intense discussions that Miqati is expected to hold with the new parliamentary majority officials this week, informed sources told An Nahar daily in remarks published Tuesday that a solution to the government deadlock might not be imminent.

Without mentioning Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun or President Suleiman by name, the newspaper said both men have become more adamant in getting the interior ministry portfolio as part of their share in the new cabinet.

A source involved in the negotiations confirmed to al-Liwaa daily that Aoun was frustrated by the latest statement of Suleiman who said in Bkirki on Sunday that the constitution tasked him and the prime minister-designate with the formation of the government.

"The constitution does not allot shares to anyone," he said.

After the president's remarks, Aoun immediately informed mediators that he continues to hold onto the portfolio, the source said.

Further complicating the process, al-Liwaa quoted Aoun's son-in-law, caretaker energy and water minister Jebran Bassil, as saying that the cabinet will not be formed except through the FPM's conditions.

Aoun argues that his Change and Reform bloc should name the bulk of Christian ministers in the new government because it represents the majority of Christians.