A meeting on Wednesday between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati failed to advance the talks over the formation of a new government.
Well-informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the two officials disagreed over the government lineup and the number of ministers.
The sources noted that Mikati preferred to maintain a government of 24 ministers, and replace the minister of the Displaced, Issam Sharafeddine, and Economy Minister Amin Salam, while Aoun was pushing for adding six ministers of state to the lineup, in order to form a political cover for the government, in the event of a presidential vacuum.
In remarks following the meeting, the prime minister-designate said that discussions would be continued later.
The Presidency, for its part, noted Aoun and Mikati “tackled the various details pertaining to the formation process and would continue consultations at a later time.”
While some politicians were still relying on external and internal pressures to form a government, indirect disputes and exchange of accusations continued between the political blocs supporting Mikati on the one hand, and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) headed by MP Gebran Bassil – Aoun’s son-in-law, on the other.
FPM MP Salim Aoun spoke about “some parties’ attempt to impose their conditions on the movement, while the Lebanon 24 website , launched an attack on Bassil, accusing him of obstructing the formation of the government.
In a radio interview, Aoun said that the Baabda meeting on Wednesday was the result of external and internal opinions that are pushing for a breakthrough in the ongoing efforts to form a government in order to avoid a vacuum.”
On the other hand, MP Michel Moussa, member of the Development and Liberation bloc headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, underlined the need for a new government that would handle pressing files, including the demarcation of the maritime borders and the ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Concessions from all sides are required today to facilitate the formation of a government…” he said in a radio conversation.
Commenting on the impasse facing the government formation the Kuwaiti Al-Anbaa newspaper sources were quoted as saying : “We fear that Aoun will appoint Bassil as prime minister of a transitional government at the last moment, regardless of the constitution and customs.
Retired top Security official General Khaled Hemaded predicted Monday during an interview that the outgoing and aging Lebanese president Aoun ( 87) is not planning to leave the Baabda presidential palace when his term expires on October 31, 2022 and it only took one day for his predictions to come true .
Hamadeh predicted that Aoun will repeat the 1988 scenario
On 22 September 1988, 15 minutes before the expiration of his term, the outgoing president Amine Gemayel appointed Aoun as Prime Minister, heading a military government formed by six members of the Martial Court, three of which were Christian and three were Muslims.
The legitimacy of this appointment was disputed, however, because it violated the 1943 National Pact, an unwritten agreement among Lebanon’s confessional communities whereby the prime minister must be Sunni Muslim.
Aoun’s Free patriotic Movement confirmed Wednesday General Hamade’s prediction.
A senior Free Patriotic Movement official was quoted as saying by al-Akhbar newspaper , a Hezbollah linked daily
“We will not accept, in any way, the remaining of the caretaker cabinet should we reach presidential vacuum”
Aoun on Thursday denied the media reports claiming that he intends to stay in the presidential palace until the election of a new president even if his own term expires, but few took his denial seriously .
In an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Anbaa, former Future Movement official and MP Mustafa Alloush said that the “Shiite-Christian alliance” fought for 17 years, a real war of abolition against the Sunni sect, specifically against Hariri, which led to the assassination of the Sunni role physically, morally and politically
Other Sources told “al-Anbaa”: We fear that Aoun will appoint Bassil as head of a transitional government at the last moment, regardless of the constitution and customs.
Asharq Al-Awsat/ Ya Libnan
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