Despite denials from most political forces in Lebanon that the crisis of the cabinet formation process did not return to square one, observers asserted that old and new disputes are proving difficult to solve, at least in the foreseeable future. Sources close to Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that he has already offered all he had to facilitate the birth of a new government. “But, every time he did, obstacles came from a different place,” the sources explained. “Hariri is currently very upset from what is happening at the level of the cabinet formation process,” they stated. Other sources close to the formation process said circumstances surrounding the cabinet are “not positive.” Meanwhile, ministerial sources from the March 8 camp held caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil responsible for obstructing the cabinet process since the start of negotiations. “The principle hidden obstacle Bassil, who had hindered the formation process at all of its stages,” the sources charged. “He aims to acquire 11 ministers or a blocking third,” they said, adding that Hezbollah was not opposed to such demand on condition that it does not take place at the expense of other powers. Eleven ministers would be enough to block any cabinet decision. MP Ali Khreiss from the Development and Liberation bloc of Speaker Nabih Berri echoed the same position, without naming Bassil. Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the cabinet formation process is currently obstructed by two hurdles: The representation of the March 8 Sunni deputies in the new cabinet and the distribution of ministerial shares, particularly the portfolios of Information, Environment, Culture and Agriculture. “The Amal Movement and Hezbollah offered facilitations to the formation process. And, the minute we were very close to announce the cabinet lineup, someone came to consider the Sunni minister representing the Consultative Gathering from his share, throwing all efforts out the window,” Khreiss told Asharq Al-Awsat.
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