BEIRUT: The March 14 coalition is proposing the formation of a nonpartisan government that would exclude all major political parties in a bid to break the two-month-long Cabinet deadlock, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Sunday.
The proposal comes as Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam prepares to resume consultations this week on the formation of a new Cabinet amid signs that his efforts still face major hurdles, while the rival factions remain divided over the shape, makeup and role of the next government.
Worse still, the formation process has been further complicated by Hezbollah’s heavy involvement in the Syrian fighting with some March 14 politicians saying it was impossible for the party to join any new Cabinet before it withdrew its fighters from Syria.
Siniora, head of the parliamentary Future bloc, said his bloc and the March 14 coalition supported the formation of a neutral and nonpartisan government to cope with the worsening socioeconomic conditions and the fragile security situation in the country.
He said the March 14 coalition’s proposal for a nonpartisan government, which is in sharp contrast with March 8 parties’ insistence on the formation of a political or national unity Cabinet, had been conveyed to Salam to discuss with the other side.
“What is required is the formation of a nonpartisan government that does not include representatives from the Future Movement, Hezbollah, the Lebanese Forces, the Amal Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement,” Siniora told The Daily Star.
Recalling that caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s Cabinet, which was dominated by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies before it resigned on March 22, was “a failure” at all levels, Siniora said a nonpartisan government would concentrate on resolving the people’s socioeconomic and security problems, while thorny issues such as Hezbollah’s arsenal and the party’s involvement in the more than 2-year-old civil war in Syria would be left to a National Dialogue committee.
“A nonpartisan government can begin resolving the people’s daily life problems until we are able to resolve thorny issues,” he added.
Asked if the Future bloc was ready to join a government in which Hezbollah was represented, Siniora said: “It is impossible and inappropriate for the Future bloc to sit together with Hezbollah representatives in a new Cabinet as long as the party has fighters in Syria.”
Sources close to Salam confirmed that the premier-designate was working to assemble a nonpartisan government in line with the March 14 demand.
“Salam is trying to form a nonpartisan government whose members do not belong to any party and do not provoke anyone,” a source close to Salam told The Daily Star. He said this has been Salam’s goal since he was appointed to form a new Cabinet on April 6.
“Salam wants a homogeneous working team that is capable of tackling the economic and security problems in the country, rather than taking the tension from the street to the Cabinet,” the source said.
Salam suspended his attempts to form a Cabinet last month, waiting for the outcome of lawmakers to decide on the fate of the June 16 elections.
After failing to agree on a new electoral law, the majority of lawmakers endorsed a draft law Friday to extend Parliament’s mandate for 17 months and delay the polls until November 2014.
Salam, who discussed the Cabinet deadlock with President Michel Sleiman Saturday, will resume consultations this week on the government formation process after Parliament decided to extend its term, the source said. “Salam is also waiting for the results of President Sleiman’s challenge against the extension of Parliament’s mandate,” the source added.
Sleiman filed a challenge Saturday with the Constitutional Council against the extension of Parliament’s four-year term, which expires on June 20.
Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun’s parliamentary bloc is expected to file a similar challenge Monday.
The source said Salam upheld his proposal for a 24-member Cabinet divided equally among figures acceptable to the March 8 and March 14 parties and the centrist bloc, which includes Sleiman, Salam and MP Walid Jumblatt.
Salam is also adamant on not granting the blocking third to any party, and insists that key portfolios be rotated among all the sects and parties, the source said.
Hezbollah and its March 8 allies have already rejected the 24-member Cabinet proposal, insisting on veto power, which requires one more minister than Salam has offered. Asked what Salam would do if his proposal for such a “three-eight” Cabinet was rejected by the March 8 parties, the source said: “Salam will then mull other options. The formation of a fait accompli government is one of these options.”
In remarks published Sunday, Salam, an independent lawmaker allied with the March 14 coalition, said there was no justification for a delay in forming a new Cabinet following the extension of Parliament’s mandate.
Hezbollah reiterated its demand for the formation of a national unity government in which political parties are represented according to their size in Parliament.
“This is not an impossible demand, but a positive one if we want to serve the country’s interest,” Hezbollah’s caretaker Minister of State Mohammad Fneish said during a memorial ceremony in the southern village of Salaa.
Speaking at another ceremony in the southern village of Yater to commemorate three days after the death of Hezbollah fighter Mustafa Ali Saleh in battle in Syria, Hezbollah MP Hasan Fadlallah called for the formation of a political government in which all parties are represented.
Responding to March 14 demands for Hezbollah to withdraw its fighters from Syria before joining a new Cabinet, Fadlallah said: “We in Hezbollah decide on our participation in any government, under what formula and according to what percentage. ... Lebanon needs a national unity government capable of confronting the security, political, economic and social challenges.”
Also Sunday, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, who staunchly rejected the extension of Parliament’s mandate, urged Sleiman and Salam to form a government ignoring the demands that had prevented its formation:
“All the parties that want to participate in the government must firstly respect the provisions of the Constitution and place their decisions under these provisions and the requirements of the Baabda Declaration.”
by: Hussein Dakroub
