Hezbollah-allied media attacks new president/Hezbollah warns no govt without Marada

Hezbollah-allied media attacks new president
Joseph A. Kechichian/Gulf News/November 30, 2016

 Beirut: One of Hezbollah’s daily mouthpiece in Lebanon, Al Safir, published on its front page an unprecedented assault on the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jibran Bassil, in an essay titled: “Is this loyalty Jibran?”
The vociferous attack targeted the president of the republic even if the blatantly worded essay, signed by the “Political Editor,” was interpreted as a direct challenge to Michel Aoun whose post-election declarations displeased Hezbollah officials.

It reminded Aoun that he was chosen to fill the post of the presidency by Hezbollah and that the party intended to collect all of the chips that were sealed in the 2006 Memorandum of Understanding with the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM). The writer further called on Aoun to remember that it pushed Bassil to become a minister in the first Hariri government back in 2009 and repeatedly backed his son-in-law to run for office as a deputy even if every attempt resulted in failure.

The choicest criticisms were reserved to the FPM reconciliation with the Lebanese Forces, whose leader Samir Geagea plotted the current outcome by withdrawing his own candidacy, reconciling with and backing Aoun, and forcing Sa‘ad Hariri to abandon the candidacy of the Marada leader, Sulaiman Franjieh, all of which created a fait accompli in front of Hezbollah to finally end its two-and-a-half-year-long parliamentary boycotts.

Al Safir blamed Bassil for aligning himself with Geagea in a “Christian Coalition” at the expense of the party that “stood steadfast with Aoun” that, it say the least, was interpreted as nothing less than insult added to injury.

Unhappy with Aoun’s commitment to visit Riyadh as soon as the Hariri cabinet is composed, the daily’s political editor reminded the head-of-state that such a decision — to embark on his first official visit abroad — should not have been announced by the Governor of Makkah, Prince Khalid Al Faisal on November 21. That was, apparently, a sign of Saudi interference in Lebanese internal affairs though reminding Aoun of his decade-old pledges to Hezbollah were not signs of prying.

Amid ongoing negotiations over the next government, rumours circulating that the infamous veto power must be brought back led Hezbollah to warn that the Marada Movement must be assigned a key ministerial portfolio before anything else. Aoun, increasingly a hostage held in a golden cage, is seemingly livid that Hezbollah would use this tactic — which ended the first Hariri Government in 2011, ironically when Bassil announced the resignation of FPM and Hezbollah ministers — against him too.

Hezbollah warns no govt without Marada
Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/November 30/16
BEIRUT: Hezbollah has warned that no government will be formed without the Marada Movement being assigned a key ministerial portfolio, political sources said Tuesday, in the latest complication facing Premier-designate Saad Hariri’s attempts to set up a national accord Cabinet.

“There will be no government unless the Marada Movement is allocated a weighty ministerial portfolio in the Cabinet lineup. Hezbollah has relayed this position to those involved in the Cabinet formation process,” a political source told The Daily Star, in a clear reference to President Michel Aoun and Hariri.

Hezbollah officials could not be reached to comment on the hurdles hindering the Cabinet formation. But the difficulties facing the government formation figured high in a new round of talks between senior officials of Hezbollah and the Future Movement after which the two sides called for a speedy formation of a new Cabinet.

“The participants discussed developments of the government formation and the need to form it as soon as possible in order to benefit from the positive atmosphere in the country,” said a terse statement issued after the meeting held at Speaker Nabih Berri’s Ain al-Tineh residence Tuesday night. “They also discussed the issue of approving a new law for parliamentary elections and holding them on time.”

Tuesday’s was the 37th dialogue session between the Future Movement and Hezbollah aimed at defusing sectarian and political tensions, exacerbated by the nearly 6-year-old war in Syria.
Berri rejected accusations that he was obstructing the formation of a new government. He was quoted as saying by visitors at Ain al-Tineh that he was still waiting for any new development concerning the Cabinet.

“Contrary to what some are circulating, the [Cabinet formation] ball is not in my court, but rather in the court of those concerned with the matter. They know how to find solutions,” Berri said.

He denied that his ties with Aoun were strained. “My relations with the president are more than good and not marred by anything. On the contrary, we have met and the atmosphere was excellent and it is still so,” Berri was quoted as saying.

Hezbollah’s tough position on the Cabinet formation comes as Hariri is encountering major obstacles in trying to set up national unity government. The rival parties jockeying for key ministerial portfolios, namely the Telecommunications, Energy and Public Works, is presenting Hariri with difficulties that are delaying the formation of a 24-member national accord Cabinet.

It also comes as the Marada Movement, headed by MP Sleiman Frangieh who ran against Aoun in the presidential race, is demanding one of the three key portfolios – Telecommunications, Energy or Public Works – as a condition for its participation in the government.The Lebanese Forces, which is allied with Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement and Hariri’s Future Movement, is also demanding the Public Works Ministry, in addition to other portfolios.

Berri has thrown his weight behind Frangieh, pledging that his Amal Movement will not join a new government if the Marada Movement is not represented in it with a key ministerial post.
The Marada Movement has already rejected offers of the Education or Culture Ministry, insisting on acquiring a public service portfolio.
The Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc renewed its plea for the swift formation of a new government, saying that Lebanon has an opportunity for “a correct start” with the new presidential term.

“The bloc hopes that the ongoing contacts and efforts made by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri will lead to the formation of a new government as soon as possible,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

“The new government faces major and essential missions, starting with preparing and approving the draft 2017 state budget and sending it to Parliament, and also following up the endorsement of a new electoral law in Parliament,” the statement said.

It added that the new government would also have to work to restore the Lebanese citizens’ confidence in their state and institutions “in a way that would boost the role of the just state which is capable of fighting domination and taking courageous decisions to help meet the peoples’ accumulated needs.”

“The opportunity at hand to achieve a correct start for the new presidential term must not be weakened or wasted because the Lebanese people are pinning hopes on making a breakthrough in the profound crisis in this important and dangerous stage through which Lebanon and the region are passing,” the statement said.

For his part, LF chief Samir Geagea said that the ongoing dispute over the distribution of ministerial portfolios reflected “a veiled attempt” to target his party’s alliance with the FPM.
“The competition over the shares and [ministerial] portfolios is a veiled attempt to target the alliance between the FPM and the LF,” Geagea said in an interview with the Central News Agency. “We realized from the very beginning that the matter goes beyond the distribution of portfolios … but the state will only rise according to the Constitution.”

Geagea said some parties, whom he did not name, do not want a new presidential era, but an extension of the previous presidential mandates, particularly those that existed when Syria dominated Lebanon for nearly three decades before it was forced to withdraw its army in April 2005.

Despite obstacles facing Hariri, the LF chief said he did not expect the Cabinet formation to take long because the president and the premier-designate are against time wasting.
Noting that the LF has dropped its demand for a “sovereign” ministerial post as a way of facilitating the task of Aoun and Hariri, Geagea said his party’s promised share in the new government is the post of the deputy prime minister, the Public Works, Information, Social Affairs and Tourism portfolios.