Report: Meetings on Sidelines of Presidential Iftar to Accelerate Cabinet Formation

Meetings expected to be held by the country's top leaders on the sidelines of an Iftar banquet at Baabda palace next Tuesday are expected to facilitate the cabinet formation process, ministerial sources said.

Sources said on Saturday that President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, Caretaker Premier Najib Miqati and Premier-designate Tammam Salam are expected to meet on the sidelines of the Iftar.

Such talks would likely give Salam a chance to speed up the formation of the new government.

The PM-designate has so far failed in his mission over conditions set by the different camps.

The March 8 alliance wants veto power, which Salam opposes. While March 14 is calling for a neutral cabinet, stressing that Hizbullah should be excluded from it as long as it continues fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's troops in Syria.

But Salam wants a 24-member cabinet, in which the two alliances and the centrists would get 8 ministers each.

The ministerial sources told al-Liwaa daily that Suleiman will make an important speech during the Iftar given the tense political and security situation in Lebanon and the region.

On Friday, Suleiman called in a statement for rival parties to make sacrifices and help in the formation of a cabinet that can shoulder the responsibility of confronting the challenges of the upcoming stage.