Hariri surmounts hurdles to give shape to Lebanon cabinet
NAMES BEING FINALISED AS PM-DESIGNATE PLACATES LEBANESE FORCES, SUNNI OPPOSITION
In a major breakthrough in Lebanon, two key obstacles have been overcome, paving the way for Prime Ministerdesignate Sa’ad Hariri to finally announce the creation of his third cabinet, possibly today or by Friday. The first is the issue of how the right-wing Christian party Lebanese Forces will be represented, and second is whether or not Sunni politicians opposed to Hariri will get to join his cabinet.
According to sources in Beirut, names are being finalised and last-minute touches are being given by Hariri, who will carry the final list to President Michel Aoun, where they will jointly sign the decree.
Lebanese Forces
The Lebanese Forces (LF), a powerful Maronite party, won 15 seats in last May’s parliamentary election, allowing them — by norm — to claim one ministerial post for every four MPs. LF leader Samir Geagea insisted on the post of deputy prime minister, in addition to four sovereignty portfolios. He got the deputy premiership, and three rather than four cabinet seats, none of them sovereignty posts. Geagea said: “The easiest thing for us to do was to stay out of the cabinet,” adding that there was no such thing as a “rotten portfolio”. The main opponents of Geagea’s bloc were members of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), headed by Aoun’s son-in-law, Jibran Basil. For years, they have been struggling against Geagea for leadership of the Maronite community.
The deputy premiership will remain in the hands of Geagea’s trusted man Gassan Hasbani. The remaining LF portfolios will go to May Chidiac (Culture), Kamil Abu Sulaiman (Labour), and Richard Kouyoumjian (Social Affairs). Chidiac is a television presenter who famously survived an assassination attempt in 2005, while Abu Sulaiman is a prominent lawyer, and Kouyoumjian is a French and US-trained dentist turned politician.
Gassan Hajjar, editor of the mass circulation daily An Nahar told Gulf News: “Dr Geagea tried to philosophise what was essentially a loss [not getting what he originally wanted]. What he did however was obstruct those trying to push him out or government, into the opposition because there is no real opposition. He prevented the creation of a one colour government led by Hezbollah and its allies.”
Aounist Bloc
Current foreign minister Basil will keep his job, in his capacity as head of the FPM, while two of his allies, Avedis Gidanian and Nada Al Boustani will get the ministries of Tourism and Energy, respectively.
Other Aoun allies lined up to the join the cabinet are Salim Jreissati, a retired judge, who will be keeping his job as Minister of Justice, and Elias Bu Saab. He is married to renowned Lebanese singer Julia Boutros. Questions remain on who will assume the ministry of presidential affairs, incumbent Pierre Rafoul or Naji Al Boustani. The latter is a former culture minister, while Rafoul is a senior member of the FPM.
Sunni opposition
The last post earmarked for the president is that of “Minister of State for Combating Corruption.” Hezbollah is requesting that one of its Sunni allies in parliament — probably ex-minister Faisal Karami of Tripoli — is named minister.
Karami, who heads a bloc of six MPs, is demanding representation as leader of the “Sunni Opposition”. Hariri has persistently refused to comply, claiming that Sunni representation lies only in the hands of his own Future Party. To break the gridlock, Aoun suggested giving one of his seats in the cabinet to Hezbollah, thereby keeping Hariri’s Sunni bloc intact. The FPM basically gets to keep all its strategic posts, namely defence and foreign affairs, surrendering less politically sensitive portfolios like environment, which has gone to the Amal Movement that is headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Amal and Hezbollah
The two Shiite parties, strongly allied during the parliamentary elections, are operating as one bloc in the cabinet formation process. Amal will get to keep Ali Hasan Khalil as minister of finance, replacing Gazi Zeiter at the Agriculture Ministry with Hussam Lakis, a Berri protégé. Its three portfolios will be complimented by three others from Hezbollah (State Ministry for Parliamentary Affairs, Health, Youth and Sports).
Druze representation
The three remaining Druze seats will go to two allies of Walid Junblatt, Wael Abou Faour (Education) and Akram Shayeb (Industry). A third post was being contested until Junblatt gave it up in favour of his Druze rival Emir Talal Arslan, who will be naming a member of his team to the job, in accordance with Aoun.