BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri presented President Michel Aoun with a draft Cabinet lineup Wednesday night, a clear sign of major progress that political sources said could lead to the formation of a national accord government by the weekend. Hariri sounded optimistic after briefing Aoun on the results of the ongoing contacts aimed at forming a new government before Independence Day on Nov. 22. “There are details that are being studied with regard to the Cabinet lineup. The atmosphere is positive,” he told reporters at Baabda Palace.

Asked if the government’s birth is imminent, Hariri said: “Inshallah, let’s hope for the best.”

This was Hariri’s second meeting with Aoun since the president appointed the head of the Future Movement on Nov. 3 to form a new government.

Hariri’s meeting with Aoun capped a daylong flurry of meetings aimed at clearing the way for the formation of a 24-member government representing the country’s main parliamentary blocs.

The meetings have apparently solved the problem of the Lebanese Forces representation in the face of an unyielding Hezbollah veto that strongly opposed allotting the Christian party either the Defense or Foreign ministries, two of the four so-called “sovereign” portfolios. The other two “sovereign” portfolios are the Finance and Interior ministries.

Under the proposed Cabinet lineup, the LF would be assigned the Justice and Information ministries, in addition to the post of deputy prime minister, sources close to the Cabinet formation process said.

The LF’s insistence on getting a “sovereign” portfolio had posed a major hurdle to the premier-designate’s attempts to form a national accord government before Independence Day as hoped for by Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Hariri. The LF is allied with Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement and Hariri’s Future Movement. Similarly, the problem of the Kataeb Party’s representation was solved by allotting the party the Economy portfolio, the sources said.

While caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil are expected to retain their posts in the new government, Elias Bou Saab, the caretaker education minister from Aoun’s bloc, will be allotted the Defense Ministry, the sources said.

However, efforts are underway to sort out the last remaining obstacle over the Marada Movement’s representation.

MP Sleiman Frangieh, the Marada Movement leader who ran against Aoun in the presidential race, has said that his party would not participate in the new government unless it was allotted one of the key portfolios: The Energy, Telecommunications and Public Works ministries.

“Speaker Nabih Berri will not join the government unless there is a share for the Marada Movement,” MP Ostfen Dwayhe from Frangieh’s bloc told a local TV. “So far, we have not got what we want.”

A political source voiced optimism to The Daily Star that efforts to allocate the Public Works portfolio to Marada would prove fruitful.

“Barring any unforseen last minute hitches, the Cabinet would be announced no later than Sunday,” he said

Bassil, the FPM leader, met with LF representatives, while two of Hariri’s aides, former MP Ghattas Khoury and Nader Hariri, chief of Hariri’s staff, met with Kataeb Party leader MP Sami Gemayel at the Kataeb headquarters in Beirut’s Saifi area to discuss the Cabinet formation process.

Former President Amine Gemayel called after meeting Aoun Tuesday for an effective Kataeb participation in the new government.

Earlier in the day, Berri remained optimistic that a new government would be formed soon.

“The Cabinet formation process is progressing in a positive manner. Some hurdles are being cleared,” Berri was quoted as saying by a number of lawmakers during his weekly meeting with MPs at his residence in Ain al-Tineh. “We hope that the government will be born soon and before Independence Day.”

Berri said there was a shared desire by parliamentary blocs to form a new Cabinet as soon as possible so that it can begin tackling urgent and vital issues and focus on drafting and approving a new electoral law.

“An electoral law should be at the top of priorities put on the table,” the Parliament speaker added.

Meanwhile, the distribution of portfolios drew the ire of rival Druze leaders. MP Walid Jumblatt, the Progressive Socialist Party leader, lashed out at rival parties for excluding the Druze from important portfolios.

In a series of tweets, Jumblatt warned against attempts to “marginalize” his 11-member Democratic Gathering bloc and called for keeping the Health Ministry portfolio within his bloc.

“Every group is taking what it wants by force and it’s forbidden to even hint at seeking a sovereign ministry, which is the property of senior leaders,” the PSP chief said.

He rejected an offer to allot the Social Affairs Ministry portfolio to his bloc and insisted on retaining the Health Ministry, which is currently held by caretaker Health Minister Wael Abu Faour.

Jumblatt said he had tasked Abu Faour and MP Marwan Hamadeh with following up on the issue in order to “rectify the situation and give us a minimum of rights.”

Jumblatt’s remarks drew a rebuke from former minister Wi’am Wahhab.

“Due to your policies, Walid Beik, we [the Druze] became a minor sect in the equation ... and since the Taif Accord, you allowed us to be sidelined and prevented [us from holding] important [sovereign] ministries,” the Tawhid Party leader said in a tweet.

Lebanese Democratic Party leader MP Talal Arslan stood by Jumblatt, saying in a tweet that sovereign ministries “are not exclusive to anyone.”

Later, speaking at a news conference with visiting Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry at his Beirut residence, Jumblatt said that his Twitter remarks on the Cabinet formation were meant as a joke.

“I had agreed to the [Social] Affairs Ministry, but it has been emptied of affairs. So, we will stay on the Health [Ministry] to give health to the Lebanese,” Jumblatt said.