Bassil Demands Finance or Interior Portfolio, Calls for Minority Representation
Head of the Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc, caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Monday said the minorities in Lebanon should be represented in the government, adding that his bloc demands the allocation of either the Finance Ministry or the Interior Ministry in the new Cabinet.
“The bloc has demanded the representation of two minority groups, the Alawite and Syriac, in the new cabinet,” Bassil said after meeting Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri as part of consultations made by the Premier to line-up the Cabinet.
Bassil also said that the so-called “sovereign portfolios should be distributed to minority groups,” including the Druze and Alawites.
The Free Patriotic Movement chief stressed that no party has the right to adhere to specific ministerial portfolios, in an indirect reference to the AMAL Movement demand to permanently allocate the Finance Ministry.
“The time has come for the Strong Lebanon bloc to either allocate the Finance Ministry or the Interior Ministry,” he emphasized.
LBCI said the bloc has demanded the allocation of six ministerial seats other than the share allocated to President Michel Aoun (founder of the Free Patriotic Movement).
Hariri has started consultations with the various parliamentary blocs on Monday in a bid to form a new government.
Source: Naharnet
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