Secretary general of the Government , Suheil al-Bouji, announced at Baabda palace the formation of the cabinet which is headed by Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati
The decree number is 5818 and the names of the cabinet ministers as follows:
Prime minister : Nagib Mikati – Sunni **
Samir Moqbel Deputy Prime Minister, Orthodox
Talal Arslan, Minister of State, Druze #
Nicolas Fattoush Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Catholic ##
Ghazi Aridi Minister of public works and transport, Druze***
Ali Qansou Minister of State, Shiite ###
Ali Hassan Khalil, Minister of Public Health, Shiite*****
Mohammad Safadi Minister of Finance , Sunni **
Mohammed Fneish, Minister of State for Administrative Development Affairs, Shiite******
Wael Abu Faour, Minister of Social Affairs , Druze ***
Gebran Basil Minister of Energy, Maronite ****
Hussein Hajj Hassan Minister of agriculture, Shiite ******
Charbel Nahas, Minister of Labour, Catholic ****
Fadi Abboud, Minister of Tourism, Maronite ****
Salim Karam, Minister of State, Maronite **** Marada Movement
Aladdin Terru ,Minister of Displaced, Sunni ***
Ahmad Karami Minister of State, Sunni **
Nazem Khoury, Minister of Environment, Maronite *
Fayez Ghosn, Minister of National Defence, Orthodox**** Marada Movement
Chakib Qurtbawi Minister of Justice, Maronite ****
Adnan Mansour, Minister of Foreign Affairs , Shiite *****
Nicola Nahhas Minister of Economy and Trade, Orthodox ****
Marwan Charbel, Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Maronite *
Freije Sabounjian Minister of Industry, Armenian**** Tashnaq
Walid Daouk , Minister of information, Sunni **
Panos Malajian , Minister of State, Armenian **** Tashnaq
Hassan Diab Minister of Education, Sunni **
Gaby Layyoun Minister of Culture, Orthodox ****
Nicola Sahnawi Minister of Telecom, Catholic ****
Faisal Karami Minister of Youth and Sports. Sunni ******
Following announcement of the cabinet , Mikati said: We remain committed to the constitution, liberation of occupied Lebanese territory, and calm dialogue to settle disputes among Lebanese and to the Taef accord
Don’t judge us by the names , judge us by our actions . “He added this cabinet could not have seen the light if it wasn’t for the sacrifices of Speaker Berri ”
Earlier today President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri held talks at Baabda Palace Monday to discuss the 30-member Cabinet lineup that was presented by the PM designate
Bouji, arrived at the Presidential Palace following the tripartite meeting . Tradition has it that the secretary general reads the decrees announcing the appointment of the government.
Berri left Baabda Palace without making any statement, but sources said he had reservations on the lineup, namely the sixth Sunni seat, the third Druze seat and the sixth Maronite seat.
The Iranian and Syrian -backed Hezbollah brought down PM Saad Hariri’s government on January 12 over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) imminent indictment which is widely expected to implicate Hezbollah members in the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri in 2005
Mikati was appointed in January as the PM designate with the backing of the Hezbollah March 8 alliance and MPs Walid Jumblatt and Mohammad Safadi . March 14 leaders have repeatedly said that intimidation from Hezbollah’s weapons helped secure the parliamentary majority for Mikati’s nomination.
Jumblatt and his PSP parliament members reportedly switched allegiance to Hezbollah’s PM candidate, following threats by Hezbollah.
Jumblatt, Mikati and Safadi were all elected on March 14 electoral tickets during the 2009 parliamentary elections.
Update: This cabinet has 7 Sunni ministers and 5 Shiite ministers for the first time since Taef accord. This according to observers was the result of insistence by Hezbollah to include Faisal Karami , son of former PM Omar Karami in the cabinet despite Mikati’s objections who is also represented by another Karami ( Ahmad)
Update : Allocation
* President Suleiman’s share
** PM Nagib Mikati’s share
*** MP Jumblatt’s share
**** MP Michel Aoun’s share
***** Speaker Berri’s share
****** Hezbollah’s share
# Lebanese democratic party
## Independent
### Syrian Social Nationalist Party
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