Lebanon govt. impasse continues as Sunni MPs retract pick for cabinet
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri says new complications have prevented the formation of a government following a meeting that was hoped to resolve a seven-month dilemma.
The problems came up on Saturday, a day after Hariri said he hoped he would announce the make-up of the government after the session.
“A number of obstacles have appeared in the last hours that led to delaying the government,” a senior official told Reuters, without saying when those setbacks would be cleared.
“The obstacles include the problem of Sunni representation and the problem of portfolio distribution,” the official added.
Lebanon's first parliamentary vote in nine years was held on May 6, with over 500 candidates vying for seats.
According to official results, the resistance movement of Hezbollah, which defends the country against Israeli aggression, and its political allies won more than 70 of the 128 seats.
Hezbollah's allies include the Amal Movement led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the Christian Free Patriotic Movement founded by President Michel Aoun.
The Western- and Saudi-backed Hariri, however, lost more than a third of the seats held by his party’s lawmakers.
The cabinet seats must be allocated among rival groups according to a sectarian system that permits Sunnis, Shias and Christians to represent the portfolios.
Hariri, himself a Sunni Muslim, has resisted a seat demanded by a group of six Sunni MPs allied to Hezbollah.
In a compromise, the lawmakers had agreed to be represented in cabinet by another figure acceptable to them but they withdrew their support for the candidate - Jawad Adra - on Saturday after he "did not consider himself an exclusive representative" of the Sunni MPs.
The most powerful ministries have already been allocated but fresh disputes have reportedly arisen over portfolios of secondary significance.
Lebanon is in dire need of an administration because the country is heavily indebted and suffering from low economic growth.
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