Mustaqbal: March 8 Camp Seeking to Take over Lebanon through Impossible Demands on New Govt.

The Mustaqbal bloc accused on Tuesday the March 8 camp of placing “impossible” conditions over the formation of a new government.

It warned in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The demands are part of its ongoing efforts to take over Lebanon.”

It added that the camp agreed to name Tammam Salam as premier-designate in an attempt to lessen the blow it suffered after the resignation of the previous cabinet.

The bloc therefore cast a doubt that Salam would succeed in forming a government of national interests capable of staging the parliamentary elections as he aspires.

It renewed however its demand that the new cabinet oversee the polls and that its members not run in the elections.

“The impossible demands raise a number of questions over the March 8 camp's intentions for Lebanon, especially on the political, security, and economic levels,” added the Mustaqbal bloc.

It also added that it is open to all “reasonable” proposals over a parliamentary electoral law that will ensure fair representation of all Lebanese.

A delegation from the March 8 camp is scheduled to hold talks later on Tuesday with Salam over the formation of a new government and efforts to come up with a new electoral law.

Salam is seeking the formation of a cabinet of national interests that will be able to hold the elections.

The March 8 camp is seeking the formation of a political cabinet, while the rival March 14 alliance is demanding the establishment of a neutral one.

Commenting on Hizbullah's fighting in Syria, the Mustaqbal bloc strongly condemned the party's “ongoing crime that violates national, humanitarian, and moral treaties”.

“Its ongoing involvement exposes Lebanon to all sorts of dangers and foreign meddling,” it warned.

It therefore demanded that Hizbullah withdraw its fighters from Syria in order to allow political and national life in Lebanon to return to normal.

“Youths who willingly joined Hizbullah to combat Israel are now being forced against their will to combat their Syrian brothers for the sake of Israel,” lamented the Mustaqbal bloc.

Addressing the malfunction of the “Fatmagul Sultan” power-generating vessel, the bloc said that the “scandal is a reflection of the incompetence and failure of the officials in charge of the energy sector.”

“The Lebanese people are suffering major losses due to the mismanagement of the sector, which is being controlled by spiteful and opportunistic minds,” it added.

It noted that had Lebanon accepted projects proposed by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development in 2009 to fund the establishment of a new power plant in Deir Ammar, the country would have been able to produce some 500 megawatts of power “without being subject to blackmail and deceit by the ministers of the Free Patriotic Movement.”

“The suffering of the Lebanese people due to the failures in the electricity field is sufficient to refute all the claims of the Change and Reform bloc,” it stressed.

President Michel Suleiman tasked on Tuesday the Central Inspection Authority to investigate the causes of the malfunctions of the “Fatmagul Sultan” power-generating vessel.

Last week, nine out of 11 generators on the “Fatmagul Sultan” barge stopped functioning, leaving it working at 15 percent of its capacity, which is 27 megawatts.

In July 2012, Lebanon inked a $360 million three-year contract with Turkey's Karadeniz power company to lease electricity-generating vessels.

The two barges could generate 270 megawatts of electricity.

The second vessel is expected to arrive in June.

Lebanon is in need of 2,500 megawatts of electricity while the current production is only 1,500 MW.