March 14 independent MP Butros Harb stressed that the March 14 alliance has an agreement over the broad headlines of the cabinet formation process, stressing that the formation of a neutral cabinet remains better than vacuum amid the delicate situation Lebanon is passing through.

“There is a comprehensive meeting over the main principles with the Lebanese Forces,” Harb said after talks with head of the LF party Samir Geagea in Meraab on Wednesday night.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri held talks with several March 14 figures in the French capital to discuss ways to resolve the local crises, however, he will not meet with PM-designate Tammam Salam.

A source denied in comments published in al-Liwaa newspaper on Tuesday that a meeting will be held between Hariri and Salam, who is currently in Geneva on a private visit.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc chief MP Fouad Saniora on Sunday rejected assaults on the army but also refused what he said were some militia-like acts committed by soldiers two weeks ago in their battle with Salafists in the southern city of Sidon.

“Whoever committed a crime against the army should be held accountable,” Saniora said in a speech ahead of a large-scale meeting held by March 14 officials at the residence of Sidon MP Bahia Hariri.

The Lebanese Forces and independent March 14 MPs announced on Saturday their boycott of next week's three-day parliamentary session.

MP Butros Harb announced on behalf of the independent lawmakers their rejection of the parliament's agenda and their questioning of the legality of the session.

March 14 alliance leaders have agreed to have a united stance during a meeting of parliament's bureau on Wednesday aimed at discussing the agenda of a parliamentary session set to vote on the extension of the legislature's mandate.

Their deal came during a meeting held on Tuesday night between al-Mustaqbal bloc chief Fouad Saniora, Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan, lawmakers Marwan Hamadeh, Butros Harb, Robert Ghanem and Ahmed Fatfat, and former MP Fares Soaid, who is the March 14 general-secretariat coordinator.

March 14 independent MP Butros Harb slammed on Monday attempts to paralyze constitutional institutions, urging parliamentary blocs to swiftly agree on a new electoral law.

“If circumstances obliged us to extend the tenure of the parliament then it must be for few months,” Harb said after talks with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace.

The majority of March 14 alliance MPs and lawmaker Walid Jumblat's National Struggle Front reached on Wednesday an agreement on a hybrid electoral draft-law despite the rejection of the Phalange party.

During a press conference that several of the coalition's MPs held in parliament, LF MP George Adwan said: “We reached a deal on the hybrid law that (Speaker Nabih) Berri had previously proposed.”

Independent March 14 lawmakers renewed on Tuesday their rejection of the Orthodox Gathering parliamentary electoral draft law, saying that it “represents a threat to Lebanon and all of its sects.”

MP Butros Harb said after a meeting for the MPs: “Speaker Nabih Berri should have placed more than one electoral law on parliament's agenda on Wednesday.”

A decision by the National Struggle Front of MP Walid Jumblat to challenge the suspension of deadlines applicable under the 1960 electoral law has received the “tacit approval” of President Michel Suleiman and al-Mustaqbal bloc chief Fouad Saniora, An Nahar daily reported on Monday.

The Front's intention to challenge before the constitutional council parliament's endorsement of a draft-law that suspended the deadlines until May 19 was revealed by caretaker Minister Wael Abou Faour, who is a member of Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party.

March 14 independent Christian MPs and officials said on Thursday that politicians should facilitate the work of PM-designate Tammam Salam to form a cabinet whose members are not running in the parliamentary elections.

In a statement issued following a meeting they held at MP Butros Harb's office, the officials stressed their support to Salam and the facilitation of his mission in forming a cabinet whose members are not candidates.