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What's Keeping Saniora from Announcing New Cabinet?
Mohamad Shmaysani
http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.as px?id=45686&language=en
07/06/2008
Mora than 15 days have passed since the Doha Accord that put an end to
the political crisis in Lebanon was signed. A new President has been
elected and the opposition sit-in in down-town Beirut has been removed,
however the new government with a guaranteeing one-third of ministers
from the opposition (as stipulated in the agreement) has not been
formed yet.
The Doha agreement ended a three-year epoch of power monopoly and
decision appropriation by the ruling bloc against the Lebanese people.
What is keeping this new government from seeing light?
It's the ruling bloc itself, but how?
The new government should comprise 30 ministers. According to the
political distribution, the loyalty bloc takes 16 seats, the opposition
takes 11 and the President takes 3 ministers.
In terms of confessions, the government should be made up of 6
Maronite, 6 Sunni, 6 Shiite, 4 Orthodox, 3 Druze, 3 Catholic and 2
Armenian Ministers. Such distribution has put the loyalty bloc in front
of a big problem on the Christian and Sunni levels.
The problem gets more complex on the Christian level, particularly the
Maronite level. Of the 6 Maronite seats in the Cabinet, the President
wants a minister and the Lebanese National Opposition - Namely MP
General Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement - wants 2 seats leaving
the loyalty bloc with three Maronite seats.
The problem begins here.
Prime Minister designate Fouad Saniora wants a seat reserved for his
finance minister Jihad Az'our, the Phalanges Party (of former President
Amine Gemayel) is demanding 2 seats and the Lebanese Forces (of Samir
Geagea) is demanding three seats. Moreover, the Qornet Shehwan teams is
also demanding a seat in the new Cabinet. Of course, there remains the
representation dilemma of Social Affairs Minister in the caretaker
government Nayla Moawwad and MP Butros Harb.
For Sunnis, there are 6 seats and there are Saniora, the Tripoli Bloc
(headed by MP Mohammed Safadi who has become a burden on the loyalty
bloc) and there is Tripoli MP Misbah Ahdab who wants a seat in the new
Cabinet. This explains why Ahdab has been assailing Safadi.
There are similar complexities for the Orthodox and Catholic seats.
This has prompted the loyalty bloc to seek to take whatever it can from
the opposition's share in the government. Saniora suggested giving them
8 portfolios and 3 ministers of states, however a source in the
opposition said that Saniora's proposal was odd. "Suppose that we
distributed the seat equally between Hezbollah, Amal and the Free
Patriotic Movement, Shiites would have four portfolios in a government
of 30 ministers, whereas Shiites had five portfolios in a government of
24 ministers, so how can this be?" the source wondered.
He also noted that the loyalty bloc still insists on considering some
portfolios as its exclusive right. "The ministry of finance that MP
Aoun is demanding is a red line and the communications ministry that
Hezbollah is demanding is also a red line," the source said.
The government should have been announced before the arrival of French
President Nicholas Sarkozy to Beirut, however the loyalty block has so
far failed to resolve its differences over representation in the new
Cabinet.
Mohamad Shmaysani
http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.as px?id=45686&language=en
07/06/2008
Mora than 15 days have passed since the Doha Accord that put an end to
the political crisis in Lebanon was signed. A new President has been
elected and the opposition sit-in in down-town Beirut has been removed,
however the new government with a guaranteeing one-third of ministers
from the opposition (as stipulated in the agreement) has not been
formed yet.
The Doha agreement ended a three-year epoch of power monopoly and
decision appropriation by the ruling bloc against the Lebanese people.
What is keeping this new government from seeing light?
It's the ruling bloc itself, but how?
The new government should comprise 30 ministers. According to the
political distribution, the loyalty bloc takes 16 seats, the opposition
takes 11 and the President takes 3 ministers.
In terms of confessions, the government should be made up of 6
Maronite, 6 Sunni, 6 Shiite, 4 Orthodox, 3 Druze, 3 Catholic and 2
Armenian Ministers. Such distribution has put the loyalty bloc in front
of a big problem on the Christian and Sunni levels.
The problem gets more complex on the Christian level, particularly the
Maronite level. Of the 6 Maronite seats in the Cabinet, the President
wants a minister and the Lebanese National Opposition - Namely MP
General Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement - wants 2 seats leaving
the loyalty bloc with three Maronite seats.
The problem begins here.
Prime Minister designate Fouad Saniora wants a seat reserved for his
finance minister Jihad Az'our, the Phalanges Party (of former President
Amine Gemayel) is demanding 2 seats and the Lebanese Forces (of Samir
Geagea) is demanding three seats. Moreover, the Qornet Shehwan teams is
also demanding a seat in the new Cabinet. Of course, there remains the
representation dilemma of Social Affairs Minister in the caretaker
government Nayla Moawwad and MP Butros Harb.
For Sunnis, there are 6 seats and there are Saniora, the Tripoli Bloc
(headed by MP Mohammed Safadi who has become a burden on the loyalty
bloc) and there is Tripoli MP Misbah Ahdab who wants a seat in the new
Cabinet. This explains why Ahdab has been assailing Safadi.
There are similar complexities for the Orthodox and Catholic seats.
This has prompted the loyalty bloc to seek to take whatever it can from
the opposition's share in the government. Saniora suggested giving them
8 portfolios and 3 ministers of states, however a source in the
opposition said that Saniora's proposal was odd. "Suppose that we
distributed the seat equally between Hezbollah, Amal and the Free
Patriotic Movement, Shiites would have four portfolios in a government
of 30 ministers, whereas Shiites had five portfolios in a government of
24 ministers, so how can this be?" the source wondered.
He also noted that the loyalty bloc still insists on considering some
portfolios as its exclusive right. "The ministry of finance that MP
Aoun is demanding is a red line and the communications ministry that
Hezbollah is demanding is also a red line," the source said.
The government should have been announced before the arrival of French
President Nicholas Sarkozy to Beirut, however the loyalty block has so
far failed to resolve its differences over representation in the new
Cabinet.