Alwaght- While Lebanon has been in a new government formation limbo for 16 months, Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) led by Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and Future Movement led by Saad Hariri have been at each other's throat in the past few days on who is behind the ongoing crisis and the obstacles ahead of the solution to exit the impasse. They have been trading accusations of lies about the halt in the cabinet formation process.
Fight over cabinet control: the "guaranteeing one-third" or the "one-half-plus-one"?
Hariri's inability and, in fact, reluctance to form a cabinet has continued in recent months under various pretext. Hariri, named by President Michel Aoun to form a cabinet in November after Prime Minister Hassan Diab's resignation, has been the main obstacle ahead of finding a practical solution to take the country out of the political dead end and the unprecedented economic crisis as he argues the country needs a technocratic government.
Last week, a verbal clash broke between Hariri and Bassil over the issue. In a televised address to the Lebanese people on Saturday, Bassil said Hariri in his new proposal to Aoun called for one-half-plus-one ministers to control the cabinet's decisions.
"The president and the prime minister-designate are equal partners in the formation of the government, so both must agree on everything, including the form of government, the number of ministries, the distribution of posts, and the nominees. The government cannot be formed without the president's consent," Bassi said, adding: "The only way out of Lebanon's impasse is to oust Hariri from the cabinet formation task by the parliament.
Rejecting Bassil's comments, team Hariri accused Aoun and Bassil of trying to retain the "guaranteeing one-third" in the next cabinet. The guaranteeing one-third is the minority's access to one-third of the ministerial seats plus one, and this prevents the majority from making important and decisive decisions alone, especially that the Lebanese constitution stipulates the government bills should win one-third vote of the cabinet in order for them to become binding.
Musfata Aloush, the diputy leader of Future Movement, on Thursday said that Hariri carried with himself a case that included the cabinet ministers names he already proposed. "He is ready to negotiate all issues except for the" blocking one-third", he continued, using an alternative to the guaranteeing one-third.
However, Bassil denied the allegations, saying that he was not interested in joining Hariri's cabinet and not demanding any share from the ministries. He also strongly dismissed the claims that Aoun demanded the guaranteeing one-third in talks with Hariri.
"They insist to tell that we and the president want one-third of the cabinet members. They lie," he held.
Now Hariri's procrastinations which deliberately take hostage a nation in favor of party agenda and future political goals draw open protest from Aoun."If prime minister-designate Hariri finds himself unable to form a government..., he should make way for those who are," he said in a statement on March 17.
“My call is determined and truthful to the prime minister-designate to choose immediately one of the two choices, as silence is not an option after today,” Aoun warned.
Hariri's fruitless trips
While Hariri's irresponsible actions in the form of foiling the political process and insisting on illegal demands have damaged his position and drew criticism from the president, he, by making foreign visits and meetings foreign officials, tries to pretend to have a serious will to form a government and the rivals are the cause of the political crisis.
After his fruitless visits to the UAE and Turkey, he last week went to Vatican to visit the Pope, inviting him to travel to Lebanon and help settle the crisis.
It seems that Hariri sets his eyes on the Pope’s help to win the Lebanese Christians' support to push against Aoun.
This political show comes as caretaker PM Diab's visit to Baghdad was canceled last week under pressure from Hariri and Saudi Arabia. The trip was to see signing economic agreements including Iraqi oil supplies amid critical conditions in Lebanon and could somehow help the Lebanese people in dire straits.
To intensify the pressure on Beirut, on Friday, Saudi Arabia announced an import ban on fruits and vegetables from Lebanon, alleging that the shipments were used to smuggle drugs to the Arab kingdom. The measure triggered an outcry by the Grand Mufti of Lebanon Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian.
The Lebanese pound price fell against the US dollar again on Thursday, reaching 13,000 to 15,000 pounds per US dollar, following the Saudi ban and the Wednesday night protests in which four people were injured.
Since the economic crisis erupted in the country, national currency lost 90 percent of its value and the unemployment rose to alarming levels.
The basic consumer goods prices and inflation have been skyrocketing ever since, pushing about half of the country’s population under the poverty line, as the experts suggest.
Hariri's actions make it clear that by playing in the American and Saudi game he hopes to bring the rivals, especially Hezbollah, to their knees through destabilizing the country and compounding the economic difficulties, and that his foreign tours are simply a cover to conceal this project.
