Report: Hizbullah Wants Considerable Share for Berri in Next Government
Dialogue channels between Hizbullah and Speaker Nabih Berri are ongoing and are focusing on the formation of the new government which will see the light after the election of a president at the end of October, An Nahar daily reported on Tuesday.
Sources following up closely on the file, said that Hizbullah is keen to have considerable participation for Berri in the next government, added the daily.
A parliament session to elect a president is scheduled on October 31.
After his election, a president consults with the members of parliament before appointing a prime minister who is tasked with forming a government.
Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun is tipped to become president after al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri formally endorsed him on Thursday.
Berri has recently announced that he would join the ranks of the opposition should Aoun be elected president, stressing that his bloc will not vote for the FPM founder.
According sources close to Hariri, the ex-prime minister struck a deal with Aoun to endorse him in exchange for his return as premier.
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.
Hariri had launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Hizbullah's ally and Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid have argued that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
Source: Naharnet
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