The daily An Nahar revealed on Sunday that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and the head of the Mustaqbal bloc Fouad Saniora met over dinner at a mutual friend’s house a few says ago.

It added that members of Jumblat’s National Struggle Front were also present.

Speaker Nabih Berri lamented that the March 8 forces were no longer finding excuses to justify the deadlock in the government formation, said pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Saturday.

Berri reportedly told his visitors that he did not understand the reasons that were delaying the formation of the new cabinet. They quoted the speaker as saying “we can no longer find excuses … particularly that we form a single team and are united in our choices.”

Hopes that a new government will be formed soon have disappeared in light of the recent contacts and meetings regarding the formation, reported the daily An Nahar Friday.

It appears that matters have returned to square one, especially given the fragile trust between Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.

President Michel Suleiman voiced his concern on Wednesday over the ongoing vacuum in Lebanon given the failure to form a new government.

His visitors reported him as saying that the stalling in the formation process will harm the Lebanese’s interests, especially given the unstable situation in the region, reported the daily Al-Mustaqbal Thursday.

The March 14 camp believed that Michel Suleiman’s election as president would “embarrass” Hizbullah and harm Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, revealed a leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar newspaper on Wednesday.

The November 4, 2007, WikiLeaks cable spoke of a meeting between the head of the Mustaqbal movement Saad Hariri and then U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffery Feltman during which the former informed him that the March 14 camp had not reached an agreement over a presidential candidate, less than a month before then President Emile Lahoud’s term was scheduled to end.

President Michel Suleiman rejected over the weekend a draft cabinet lineup proposed by Premier-designate Najib Miqati but media reports said Tuesday that discussions have made progress and are now centered on the distribution of portfolios and names of candidates.

Suleiman had remarks on the lineup that Miqati proposed to him on Saturday night during a meeting held at Baabda palace away from the media spotlight, As Safir daily said Tuesday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat warned on Monday that the recent unrest at Roumieh prison may be the first chapter of a dispute whose repercussions have not ended yet.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “The recent events require that this file, which has been neglected for tens of years, receive the attention it deserves.”

Meetings and consultations have taken place away from the media spotlight to guarantee the success of the contacts over the government formation, revealed informed sources.

They told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Monday that “pivotal” meetings over the formation are scheduled to take place in the next 24 hours.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat refused to consider that al-Mustaqbal movement was defeated in the elections of the Engineers Syndicate in Iqlim al-Kharroub.

Jumblat remarked Monday to As Safir daily that the Sunni independent candidate in Iqlim al-Kharroub, backed by the new parliamentary majority, won Sunday’s elections.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat voiced his annoyance with the renewal of the political and media dispute between Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Hizbullah.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Saturday: “Based on my experience with Hizbullah and the Shiite sect, Hariri must understand the party’s cultural and ideological structure and its connection with Wilayat al-Faqih.”