MP Alain Aoun of the Free Patriotic Movement announced Sunday that failure to form a new government before Independence Day, which Lebanon will mark Tuesday, will not be a “setback” for the new presidential tenure, while urging “flexibility” from all parties.
“There are essential hurdles that have not been resolved until the moment in the cabinet formation process, amid fierce wrangling among the parties over some portfolios and shares,” Aoun said in an interview with Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).
And as he noted that “negotiations are ongoing and the deliberations are still within a reasonable timeframe,” the MP urged the parties to “show flexibility” rather than intransigence.
Aoun also reiterated the FPM’s stance that “some ministerial portfolios should not be permanently allocated to certain sects, especially amid the marginalization that Christians have suffered.”
He also stressed that failure to form a new government before Independence Day will not be a “setback” for the new presidential tenure, reminding that President Michel Aoun “has repeatedly said that new tenure’s government is the one that will be formed after the next parliamentary elections.”
Horsetrading is currently revolving around some services-related ministerial portfolios and about some parties’ insistence on naming ministers from other sects.
