Beirut, Sep 16 (DPA) Saad Hariri Wednesday accepted re-nomination for the post of Lebanese prime minister after getting backing from 71 MPs of his majority party and two from the opposition Armenian Tashnag party.
His nomination for the second time since the June parliamentary elections was sure to restart the debate between opposition groups and the majority over the planned makeup of the cabinet.
“I have accepted the task of forming a new cabinet,” Hariri said after meeting President Michel Suleiman.
“I promise I will commit to the constitution, work to secure the participation of all parties in the cabinet and adopt dialogue as the sole means to solve political disputes,” Hariri said.
He added that his deliberation with the various parliamentary blocs will start after post-Ramzan feasting ends at the weekend.
“My decision to step down last week took the country out of political stalemate and gave way to a new round of political dialogue,” Hariri said.
He stepped down last Thursday after accusing the Hezbollah-led opposition of hampering his efforts to form a national unity government.
According to the lineup Hariri presented before he stepped down, 15 ministers would be from the majority, 10 from the opposition and five independents loyal to President Michel Suleiman, in order to give the president the tipping vote.
But, during deliberations for the past two days between parliamentarians and Suleiman, opposition parties and their ally, Christian leader Michel Aoun, withheld support from Hariri because, they said, Hariri “did not commit to form a cabinet based on the 15-10-5 formula”.
According to the Lebanese constitution, Hariri has to name a cabinet which includes all the rival Lebanese factions and have a balanced representation in accordance with the country’s religious system.
Since Hariri holds a parliamentary majority, his party has the upper hand in naming a premier, usually a Sunni Muslim according to the constitution.
On Monday Hariri said: “when I get appointed I will start negotiating, and [then] I would assess the level of cooperation by political parties.”
Hariri’s allies said that it was up to the new premier-designate to decide upon the continued validity of the 15-10-5 formula, stressing the need to resume deliberations on the cabinet issue from scratch.
“I have kept my hand extended but [the opposition] has always rejected our open approach,” he said.
Hariri is the son of late premier Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a car bomb blast in 2005 along with 20 others.
