New Cabinet Expected to See Light on Thursday or Saturday

The new government of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam is expected to be announced on Thursday or over the weekend following the return of President Michel Suleiman from a trip to Tunisia.

An Nahar newspaper said Thursday that Suleiman and Salam put the final touches on the cabinet lineup during a meeting at Baabda Palace on Wednesday, their second in three days.

It quoted sources as saying that during their 90 minute meeting, the two officials prepared for the announcement of the decrees on a 24-member government based on the 8-8-8 formula and the rotation of portfolios.

The Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance, the Progressive Socialist Party and al-Mustaqbal movement have struck a deal to form a cabinet in which the country's three major camps would get eight ministers each and that the portfolios would rotate among the different sects.

But Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, who is a member of March 8, rejected the agreement, saying he was left out of the consultations. He has also opposed the rotation and held onto the energy ministry, which is led by his son-in-law Jebran Bassil.

An Nahar's sources said Suleiman and Salam agreed to issue the cabinet decrees on Thursday before the president travels to Tunisia on Friday.

Or else the announcement would be postponed to Saturday.

But PSP chief Walid Jumblat sent his envoy caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour to Baabda on Wednesday after news broke that the cabinet formation was imminent.

Abou Faour reportedly asked Suleiman to react positively to a request by Hizbullah and Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal movement to postpone the decision to issue the decrees.

This could give the rival factions two more days to resolve their differences.

Sources in the March 8 and 14 alliances expected all March 8 ministers – FPM, Hizbullah, Amal, Marada and Tashnag - to withdraw from the cabinet in support for Aoun's demands.

But al-Liwaa newspaper said that Salam would seek on Thursday morning to get a guarantee from Berri that he would keep his ministers in the government after hints that he hadn't yet made up his mind.

As Safir quoted officials close to the PM-designate as saying that the different factions should first check the line-up before taking stances from it.

“They shouldn't prejudge it,” they said.