Lebanon’s Hariri blames Hezbollah for cabinet delays

By Wasim Saifalddin

BEIRUT (AA) - Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Tuesday blamed Hezbollah for continued delays in the formation of the country’s next government.

“Hezbollah is responsible for what Lebanon is going through,” Hariri said at a Tuesday press conference.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah recently called on Hariri, who has been tasked with drawing up a new cabinet lineup, to give seats in the incoming cabinet to the group’s Sunni political allies.

“The stability of Lebanon,” Hariri said, “is predicated upon the Taif Accord.”

Under the 1989 Taif Accord, which ended Lebanon’s destructive civil war (1975-1989), cabinet portfolios are shared between the country’s main ethno-religious groupings, with six portfolios reserved for Sunnis, six for Shias, and three for Druze.

Ever since Lebanon held parliamentary polls on May 6, Hariri has struggled to form a new government.

Hezbollah wants to see six Sunni opposition MPs in the new government, while Hariri has argued that the six lawmakers had run in the polls under the umbrella of political blocs that have already filled their respective cabinet quotas.

Following the May elections, President Michel Aoun tasked Hariri with drawing up a new cabinet lineup.

The process, however, has faced repeated delays amid mutual recriminations between the country’s main political forces and demands by certain parties for more representation.

According to Lebanon’s constitution, the prime minister-designate does not have a deadline for forming a new government.