HARIRI NAMED TO FORM LEBANON GOVT

Propelled in the heart of Lebanese politics following the death of his father four years ago, Saad Hariri, son of slain ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, was on June 27 named to form a new government in the tiny Arab country. “According to the constitution and after the president consulted with the speaker of parliament and parliamentarians, he (President Michel Sleiman) summoned Saad Hariri and tasked him with forming a new government,” reads a presidential statement. Hariri was backed to the post by 86 deputies, including Hizbullah ally and parliament speaker Nabih Berri. Hizbullah-led coalition abstained from naming anyone for the job, reserved for a Sunni Muslim under Lebanon’s complex sectarian political system. Under this system, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker a Shiite Muslim. “We will begin consultations with all parliamentary blocs based on our commitment to a national unity government in which all main blocs are represented and which is harmonious, functional, and free of obstruction and paralysis,” Hariri said. Hariri-led March 14 alliance won 71 of the 128-member parliament in the June 7 parliamentary elections while Hizbullah-led coalition secured 57 seats. The prime minister-designate must now form a cabinet that satisfies both his allies and his rivals in the Hizbullah-led coalition. While Hariri has more than an ample majority in parliament, he is bound by an agreement with all parties to “preserve a spirit of consensus.” Berri, who was re-elected to a fifth consecutive term as speaker on Thursday, said he nominated Hariri on condition he forms another unity government. Under the current government, headed by Fuad Siniora, Hizbullah and its allies have veto power over major decisions. The unity government was formed in May 2008, bringing to an end a political crisis that had brought Lebanon to the brink of civil war. The crisis, which left more than 100 people dead, was defused following a Qatari-brokered deal that led to the election of army commander Michel Sleiman as president and the formation of a unity government.