- More than six months since an election, efforts to form the new cabinet led by Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri are still logjammed with rival groups vying for cabinet posts
- Lebanon is in dire need of a government able to implement the economic reforms the IMF says are needed to put its public debt on a sustainable path
BEIRUT: Iran was accused on Tuesday of sabotaging the formation of a government in Lebanon as President Michel Aoun intervened to try to end the impasse.
Political negotiations have been deadlocked since elections in May, in a row over representation in the Cabinet for six Sunni members of Parliament allied with Hezbollah. The 30 ministerial posts are allocated according to a sectarian political system.
鈥淭he issue is associated with what Iran wants and what it is given, to agree to the formation of a government or to continue hampering it,鈥� the Minister of Refugees Affairs, Moeen Al-Marabi, a member of Prime Minister Saad Hariri鈥檚 Future Movement parliamentary bloc, told Arab News.
President Aoun said: 鈥淲e are launching an initiative ... and it has to succeed, because if it doesn鈥檛 ... there is a catastrophe, we want to say it with all frankness, and this is the reason for my intervention.鈥�
He has held meetings with Hariri, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah representative Mohammed Raad MP.
Hariri left Lebanon on Tuesday to attend an economic forum in London on investment and structural reforms in Lebanon. 鈥淕od willing, we will find solutions,鈥� he said.
鈥淭here are those who wish to form a government while others do not. We must give the president the chance to conduct his consultations.
鈥淓veryone will be held accountable if a solution is not reached, not only the president and me.鈥�