Speaker Nabih Berri announced during his weekly meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday that the dispute over who should get the finance ministerial portfolio “can be resolved.”
“The finance portfolio obstacle is still being negotiated but it can be resolved,” MPs quoted Berri as saying.
According to state-run National News Agency, Berri hoped the new government will be formed before Lebanon marks Independence Day on November 22.
“There is a serious desire to form it as soon as possible so that we embark on work, especially in order to approve a new electoral law and address the vital issues,” Berri added.
“The new (electoral) law must be based on proportional representation, which would secure a transition from the sectarian approach to the approach of citizenship,” the speaker went on to say.
Berri had recently noted that the Taef Accord stipulates that the finance portfolio “should be part of the Shiite sect’s share on the basis that the finance minister’s signature on decrees is the only Shiite signature in the executive authority.”
Media reports have said that the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement are seeking to grab the finance portfolio, which went to Berri’s AMAL Movement in Tammam Salam’s cabinet.
President Michel Aoun’s election as president and Saad Hariri’s appointment as premier-designate have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees.
The process of forming a government could take months, with horsetrading likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the finance, defense and energy ministries.
Lebanon
