Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra clarified that claims alleging that the LF wants to exclude certain political parties from the new government were untrue, As Sharq al-Awsat daily reported on Saturday.
“There is a difference between a government of national unity and a government that works for national unity,” said Zahra in an interview to the daily.
“When we say that the opposition should stay out of the government, we do not intend to exclude a certain political party. We mean to say that including all the political components disrupt democracy and therefore it is better that things carry on normally through the presence of pro-government and the opposition. Since the stipulation of the Taef Accord we have become used to governments of national unity which has disrupted accountability,” he went on to say.
Zahra’s comments came after reports said that Speaker Nabih Berri has warned PM-designate Saad Hariri that the LF chief Samir Geagea plans to keep the Kataeb party and Marada Movement out of the new government formula.
On Thursday, Hariri was formally tasked with forming a new government after he received a sweeping majority of 112 votes in the binding parliamentary consultations.
Hariri’s key support had contributed to the election of President Michel Aoun who also received crucial support from Hizbullah and the Lebanese Forces.
On Monday, Aoun was elected as Lebanon’s 13th president which ended around two and a half years of presidential and political vacuum.
Hariri’s nomination and Aoun’s election 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.
In a sign that Hariri’s task ahead might not be easy, Hizbullah’s MPs declined to endorse him for the prime minister post, even though his nomination was all-but-assured.
Hariri is likely to struggle with his government’s policy statement, which will have to make reference to Israel, as well as the war in Syria, both potential flashpoints with Hizbullah.
The process of forming a government could take months, with horsetrading likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the interior, defense and energy ministries.
