BEIRUT: March 8 politicians sent warning messages to Prime Minister designate Tammam Salam Sunday against forming a government without them, saying such a move would plunge Lebanon into crisis.

 

Hezbollah MP Hasan Fadlallah warned that the consequences of forming a 'de facto' government, or one with only March 14 supporters represented, could be unbearable, describing such a move as a “dangerous game.”

 

“Any step toward a [de facto] government is an uncalculated adventure that will produce dire results on Lebanon,” Fadlallah said during a ceremony in the southern town of Bint Jbeil.

 

“Those thinking about forming such a government should reconsider and be cautious to the dangers that they are taking Lebanon into,” he added. 

Hezbollah and its allies have repeatedly urged Salam to form a Cabinet lineup based on each party’s representation in Parliament. Salam has been attempting to form a government for weeks since being named to the post shortly after caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati resigned. Hezbollah has asked for veto power in the government, known as a blocking third, something which Salam opposes. 

“Play some other game because this is a dangerous game and its political, legal, constitutional and on-the-ground consequences will be more than you can handle,” Fadlallah said. “Any such adventure would mean plunging the country into a big crisis amid tense regional circumstance.” 

MP Ali Bazzi of Speaker Nabih Berri’s parliamentary bloc also voiced similar concerns, saying the new government should unite rival parties rather than divide them. 

"Amid this critical moment that we live in, those keen on preserving the country should think about the necessity to form a political, consensus government; a government that brings together and unites rather than one that deepens the divide,” he said at a political gathering in south Lebanon. 

He added that the task of the government is to hold the elections and tackle several national, economic and socioeconomic problems. 

Salam has said his government’s primary task would be to supervise the elections and that neutral ministers who are not candidates for the polls should lead that process.

 

The PM designate has proposed the formation of a 24-member Cabinet to be divided equally among the March 8 and March 14 parties and a centrist bloc, but this proposal has been rejected by the March 8 bloc.

 

Bazzi said his bloc was responsive and denied placing obstacles that obstructed Salam’s work. 

“We called for a government that represents parliamentary blocs according to their weight because it is no longer acceptable to have this mentality of exclusivity and exclusion and it is not acceptable to talk about a de facto government,” he said. 

MP Michel Aoun, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, also warned Salam and the March 14 coalition against carrying out what he described as a “coup.” 

“We are hearing that a de facto government will be imposed which is the first time we've heard about such a formation in Lebanon. As if the Prime Minister designate has the prerogative to do whatever he wants,” Aoun told a crowd during a ceremony in Koura, north Lebanon, Saturday. 

“No. This kind of dictatorship is long gone,” he said. 

“This kind of behavior is considered a coup on the Constitution and laws governing Cabinet formation,” he said. 

Although Salam is considered a moderate politician, he won a Beirut parliamentary seat in the 2009 elections when he ran on Future Movement’s ballot and is close to the March 14 coalition. 

Addressing his rivals in the March 14 camp, Aoun said: “If the current circumstances offer a minor chance for the group who corrupted the country and stole public money ... to return, with the benefit of the doubt, through a government formed under unusual circumstances, I think that will create a big problem and this is a warning I am sending today from Koura to all the Lebanese to hear.”