Hariri upbeat after govt talks, rivalries surface
Lebanon’s economic woes and unsustainable debt levels are seen as top priorities for the next government
BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Saad Al Hariri expressed hope on Monday that a coalition government could be formed quickly to shield Lebanon from regional instability and a dire economic situation which he said posed the biggest danger to the country.
Hariri was speaking after meetings with lawmakers over the make-up of the new coalition to be formed after a May 6 parliamentary election that strengthened the hand of the Hezbollah and its political allies.
Pointing to complications ahead, the Christian Lebanese Forces party demanded government representation equal to its main rival, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), and competition for cabinet portfolios also surfaced among rival Druze factions.
“I am very optimistic, God willing, and I thank everyone for the cooperation they showed today,” Hariri, who will be premier for a third time, told reporters. The post is reserved for a Sunni Muslim in Lebanon’s sectarian powersharing system.
“Nobody wants to put a spoke in the wheel,” Hariri said. Lebanon’s economic woes and unsustainable debt levels are seen as top priorities for the next government. So too is the Syrian refugee crisis for a country where one in four people is now a Syrian refugee.
Earlier, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was quoted saying the government formation should take less than one month. “Nobody has an interest in delaying the birth of the government or putting complications in its way,” Berri told people who had visited him, the Al-Mustaqbal reported.
Hezbollah aims to secure a bigger say in the next government than it had in the last one, after the group and its allies made significant gains in the election.
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