Raad Hints 'Ploys' in Formation Process May Topple New Cabinet

Hizbullah on Friday warned that any “ploys and maneuvering” in the cabinet formation process might “topple the results that are sought” from the formation of a new government.

The party has called for “forming an all-embracing cabinet comprising all national components so that it can confront all political, security, economic and social problems,” said MP Mohammed Raad, head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc.

The cabinet formation process has suffered a new blow as the March 8 camp rejected that the interior ministry portfolio be allocated to former Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi in return for keeping the energy portfolio with the Free Patriotic Movement.

"Ploys and maneuvering in the cabinet formation process to exclude an essential component might topple the results that are sought from this inclusive cabinet," Raad cautioned.

Attempt to "eliminate the word 'resistance' from the Lebanese vocabulary means that someone wants to put all points pertaining to the National Charter of coexistence on the discussion table, because this issue cannot be raised selectively,” Raad added.

The FPM, Hizbullah and their allies in the March 8 camp are likely to pull their ministers out of any so-called de facto cabinet they do not approve of, forcing its collapse. The cabinet would then act in caretaker capacity and new parliamentary consultations would be held to name a new prime minister-designate.