Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Beirut, 28 May 08, (Naharnet) - President Michel Suleiman has designed incumbent premier Fouad Saniora to head a new government based on his nomination by a majority of parliamentarians. The Hizbullah-led opposition voiced dismay.

Saniora was summoned to the Republican Palace in suburban Baabda on Wednesday to be informed of a presidential decree designating him to form a 30-member cabinet of national unity in which the opposition would hold veto powers.

“Based on his consultations with members of parliament … The president has asked Fouad Saniora to form a new government,” the presidential decree said

Saniora, 64, will begin consultations on Thursday with the various parliamentary blocs on forming a cabinet in line with the Doha Accord that set the rule of partnership between the majority, opposition and President Suleiman.

Saniora, talking to reporters at the Republican Palace, vowed to bridge the gaps separating the rival factions as he stretches a hand to cooperate in the interest of Lebanon.

“I extend my hand for cooperation and solidarity so that our country can achieve the breakthroughs it deserves,” Saniora said.

He expressed hope that all parties would learn lessons from past events that must not be repeated.

“I call on all of you to heal the wounds and to overcome the divisions we have experienced and not to resort to violence to solve our problems,” he said.

Of the 127 members in parliament, 68 MPs gave Saniora their backing on Wednesday.

Formation of a unity government is a key plank of a deal hammered out by rival factions last week to end an 18-month political crisis that boiled over into deadly fighting and threatened to plunge the nation into a new civil war.

Under the deal, the majority would hold 16 seats in the new cabinet and the Hizbullah-led opposition 11, with the president appointing three ministers.

My Comment: 11 Is WAY to many - they should hold ZERO

Mustaqbal Bloc leader Saad Hariri said his bloc had decided to nominate Saniora again as he was the best man for the job.

“We didn’t name Saniora as a challenge (to the opposition) but as a move toward real reconciliation and to turn over a new page,” he told reporters.

The opposition, however, made clear it was not satisfied with Saniora, saying he did not reflect the spirit of national unity called for in last week’s Arab-brokered accord reached in Doha.

“His nomination is a recipe for conflict rather than reconciliation,” Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun warned. “It seems the ruling bloc, rather than battling for a new Lebanon, is seeking to unleash a new conflict.”

He added, however, that his camp would not stand in the way of forming a new government.

Saniora, a Sunni Muslim and close ally of slain former premier Rafik Hariri, has been prime minister since 2005 and headed a caretaker government since Suleiman’s election by parliament on Sunday.

Much of Saniora’s previous term was dominated by the standoff with the opposition that withdrew its ministers from his government late in 2006 in a bid to force Saniora to resign.

Analysts said the parliamentary majority decided to keep Saniora in his post to allow Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, to prepare for legislative elections next year.