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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Eyes Turned to March 8's Choice of PM as Suleiman Asks Cabinet to Act as Caretaker |
| 2011-01-14 |
[An Nahar] Parliament Speaker Nabih KnobbyBerri ... the Hizbullah sock puppet ... on Thursday announced that consultations on appointing a new prime minister would begin on Monday, following the collapse of the national unity government. "Consultations with parliamentarians will begin Monday at 12:00 p.m.," Berri said after talks with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace, adding that "the meeting was very good." According to article 69 of the constitution, the 14-month-old cabinet is now considered resigned after more than one third of its ministers walked out -- 10 from the March 8 coalition and a minister loyal to Suleiman. An Nahar daily said that the president is waiting for Prime Minister Saad Hariri's return to Beirut to issue the decree accepting the ministers' resignation. However, The infamous However... the presidency issued a statement on Thursday asking the cabinet to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new government is formed. "In line with clause one of article 69 in the Lebanese constitution on the circumstances under which the government is considered to have resigned ... and as the government has lost more than one third of its members ... his Excellency ... has requested the cabinet act as a caretaker government until the formation of a new government," read the statement released by Suleiman's office. Media reports said Syrian President Bashar "Pencilneck" al-Assad ... hereditary dictator of Syria ... telephoned his Lebanese counterpart to discuss the political situation. The immediate trigger for the withdrawal from the cabinet was the failure of talks between Syria and Soddy Arabia to try to find a solution to the Lebanese crisis that erupted over the Special Tribunal for Leb. "This cabinet has become a burden on the Lebanese, unable to do its work," Jebran Bassil, who resigned his post as energy minister, said at a news conference, flanked by the other ministers who stepped down. "We are giving a chance for another government to take over," he said. As Safir daily on Thursday was not optimistic about Suleiman's ability to form a new government quickly. It said the reasons that led to the collapse of the government will hinder the process of cabinet formation if a political understanding was not reached on how to deal with the indictment that will be issued by the tribunal. Opposition sources told As Safir that the March 8 forces ... the opposition to the Mar. 14th movement, consisting of Hizbullah and its allies, so-called in commoration of their Mar. 8th, 2006 demonstration of strength in Beirut ... will not name Hariri as premier during consultations with Suleiman. "He has become part of the problem," they said. The sources expected Syria to have the upper hand in deciding the name of the new premier. However, The infamous However... the March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... forces are holding onto Hariri as premier. He is expected to get the largest numbers of backers given that he heads the largest bloc in parliament, but he could not build a coalition again without appealing to Hizbullah and its allies. |
| Posted by:Fred |