Report: Hizbullah ‘Refuses’ Aoun-Hariri Cabinet Standards
In light of disagreements between political parties over ministerial quotas in the future government, Hizbullah and AMAL Movement reportedly plan to “enlarge” demands to reflect their “parliamentary elections’ success” in a bid to “shock politicians back into reality,” al-Joumhouria daily reported on Monday.
Well-informed sources told the daily that “serious negotiations have begun to make some changes in ministerial quotas to reflect the size of parliamentary blocs,” and that AMAL and Hizbullah “will demand 8 or 10 portfolios, according to the size of their parliamentary blocs, if a bloc of 15 MPs is granted 4 or 5 ministers.”
Shall the equation be implemented, “it would mean the ten Sunni MPs not aligned to al-Mustaqbal bloc would also have the right to allocate at least two portfolios,” added the sources on condition of anonymity.
The daily said the change in the Shiite duo’s stance reflects pressures of the March 8 camp on all parties involved in the Cabinet formation process in order to push them back to political realism and to make them ease their demands and conditions.
AMAL and Hizbullah, who achieved major victory in May’s parliamentary elections, have agreed to share six Shiite ministerial seats equally between them.
Meanwhile the main obstacles hindering the mission of Prime Minister-Saad Hariri’s are the issues of Christian and Druze representation, with President Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement wrangling with the Lebanese Forces over seats and the Progressive Socialist Party demanding that it be allocated all three Druze portfolios.
Hariri was tasked with forming a new government on May 24.
Source: Naharnet
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