Political figures remained confident a new government would be formed over the weekend after last-minute fine-tuning held up finalizing the Cabinet lineup Friday.
Presidential sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday there was some “breakthrough at the level of the distribution of ministerial portfolios,” and that contacts were ongoing to complete the formation process.
“The atmosphere is positive. All parties are collaborating in this regard,” the sources said, predicting that a solution could be reached soon.
On Friday, last-minute demands related to some ministerial portfolios have postponed the announcement of a new cabinet.
Sources said “small knots” emerged in the last minutes before the birth of the new cabinet when disputes emerged over the distribution of the Environment, Information, Industry and Agriculture portfolios among rival parties.
President Michel Aoun said Friday the formation of the new government was "faster than expected."
"Forming governments in Lebanon usually takes time because the Lebanese system is based on consensus and requires the participation of all sides in the national unity government," Aoun told his visitors at Baabda Palace.
For his part, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri hoped to finalize the government following seven months of disputes over ministerial shares.
But, against all expectations, Friday passed without reaching a final lineup of the cabinet, when some political forces demanded the exchange of some ministerial portfolios.
“The demand to exchange some portfolios has delayed the announcement of a government,” sources close to the cabinet formation process told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“We still don’t know what reasons drove the emergence of those knots, but we are sure things will be solved soon,” the sources said.
“When a party accepts to get the Information Ministry, all other portfolios would be automatically solved,” they said.
Several suggestions emerged on Friday to arrange the exchange of the mentioned four portfolios, but sources said concerned parties accepted none of them.
