The Other Faces of the Government
After almost five months of bickering a Lebanese government was born out of a miraculous idea from one of the king makers of the March 8 coalition.
Speaker Nabih Berri decided to switch one of the three ministerial seats allocated to him from three Shiite ministers to two Shiites and one Sunni, thereby removing one of the last remaining major hurdles from the government birth.
He recommended taking Faisal Karami, a Sunni, in his ranks therefore breaking the pact that has prevailed since 1943 of equal seats for the three main communities in Lebanon, the Sunnis, Maronites, and Shiites.
The government now includes seven Sunnis, five Shiites, and six Maronites.
However, there are many other rules that were broken in this government.
First, it includes five ministers from Tripoli, four of them Sunnis out of a total of seven. Only two Sunni ministers belong to Beirut, a very unusual formation. Good luck for Tripoli.
Second, the government also includes five candidates who failed in the last parliamentary elections, something unusual since Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun had previously declared that candidates who did not win the confidence of the people should not become ministers.
The distribution of power in the council of ministers is thus as follows:
1. Twelve ministers to the coalition of Prime Minister Najib Miqati, President Michel Suleiman, and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat with an obvious veto power – six for Miqati, three for Suleiman and three for Jumblat (one of them approved by Aoun)
2. Ten ministers to the Aoun coalition – six to the FPM, two to Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh, and two to the Tashnag party
3. Three ministers to Berri, including Faisal Karami
4. Two ministers to Hizbullah
5. Three ministers to the March 8 coalition – Ali Qanso, Nicolas Fattoush and Talal Arslan
Six ministers without portfolios were appointed: Samir Moqbel (deputy prime minister) Fattoush, Qanso, Ahmed Karami, Panos Malajian, and the unhappy Arslan who resigned after being granted a state ministry portfolio.
Eleven ministers have an Anglo-Saxon education and ten have a French one. Seven ministers have studied Engineering, three studied Law, another three Political Science, and three Natural Sciences, while others have pursued military careers.
Women were absent form this government unfortunately, a very negative image for Lebanon. Even Syria in its latest government appointed a few women.
One cannot please everybody in a country like Lebanon. One wonders how much of the fragile coalition of 68 MP votes will remain to give this government a confidence vote since they have already lost MP Arslan, the unhappy Druze leader without a portfolio. The second Druze MP in Baabda is Fadi al-Aawar. It is not clear whether he would support him.
Let us all wish this government good luck despite the uproar of the March 14 coalition that portrays this government as Bashar Assad and Hizbullah's puppet.
over 13 years
Excellent article. Summarizing pretty well the reality of this government
over 13 years
Fellow Lebanese,
Don't waste your energy. Most of the "lebanese" newspapers have lost their objectivity long time ago.
When you open a "news" site, you need to replace it with the following:
naharnet --> m14
tayyar --> aoun
manar --> hezbollah
future --> hariri
etc...
etc...
So there is no real journalism in Lebanon, only political parties unilaterally posting their views of things... And a herd of 4+ million sheep following them blindly.
over 13 years
Wait and see what this government can do !
No more hideaways for thieves . No more place for corruption . No more favoritism . Everybody is justiciable from now on , even PM's and presidents .
Wait and see ...
over 13 years
What is wrong with article. What did we expect a different government. I am more interested to know the new ministers who failed in election.
over 13 years
Abdul Rahim Mrad is not an MP!
over 13 years
Political debate is healthy. Glad we are able to have it in Lebanon!
over 13 years
le phenicien: you will wait and see. you will be severely disappointed and disillusioned. I don't think anything will change. Corruption, favoritism, nepotism, all will remain exactly the same.
i don't support ANY of the politicians we currently have. we need NEW ones! Ones borne of the people, not from political dynasties! How did we come to have so many little kings running the country?
over 13 years
@ Le Phenicien: I hope this government will be able to pull off what the last one wasn't. But on a separate note do you think it normal for Lebanese people to be referring to themselves as Phoenicians?!? This is a dead giveaway with how you think. Sad to see that we will never learn to unit under our flag.
over 13 years
Lebanese. Being proud of our phenician heritage is was units us under the Lebanese flag and distinguishes us from sorrounding Arabs. We are Lebanese, decendants of the famous and most magnificent ancient civilization that introduced the world to the phonetic alphabet, circumnavigated Africa and conquered the Mediterranean through commerce and trade. The phenecian city states of byblos, Sidon, tyre and Beirut were financial superpowers. Today, the modern Lebanese should be proud of this heritage, and this is what will and should unit us. Even though we may be of different religions, we share the same ancestors and business and commerce blood that has helped us to flourish all around the world.
over 13 years
Yeah right Phenicien clean governement with skilled people...2 out of the 6 aounis ministers are family related to Aoun. Ma ma32oul chou skilled this family, they are the best in everything
Isn't journalism meant to remain objective?!? regardless of my personal political beliefs i think this piece should be taken off the site as it does not do justice to Al Nahar or to it's integrity.