(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - It still unknown whether the parliamentary consultations will be held next Monday or not, but the political camps are looking now to Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt as the decisive factor in the nomination “game” of the coming prime minister.
Jumblatt held a press conference Friday following his Democratic Gathering meeting. He declared that the Progressive Socialist Party will stand, as always, at the side of Syria and the Resistance.
The Democratic Gathering is Jumblatt’s parliamentary bloc while the PSP is his political party.
Jumblatt also said that any attempt to delete any side in Lebanon was an impossible adventure. He rejected the “political assassination” theory raised one day earlier by the head of the caretaker government Saad Hariri.
Jumblatt stressed he will remain committed to national dialogue, and hoped that negotiations would yield an understanding before Monday, the scheduled date of parliamentary binding consultations at the Baabda Presidential Palace.
The Progressive Socialist Party leader, meanwhile, held “some international parties” responsible for the obstruction of the Saudi-Syrian initiative. He said that all Lebanese parties have accepted it. “The agreement was signed,” he pointed out while showing the document signed by all parties concerned in the Syrian-Saudi initiative.
This indicates that Hariri after all had signed on abandoning the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, stop funding it, and withdraw the Lebanese judges from it.
Jumblatt’s conference came as media reports said that he had decided to side with the opposition during the upcoming consultations to name a new premier.
He told As-Safir daily that he was examining the situation calmly and expressed his concern regarding [the possibility of] things taking a bad turn, the daily added.
On the other hand, An-Nahar, Al-Akhbar and Ad-Diyar newspapers said in their Friday editions that Jumblatt had decided on his stance joining the opposition camp.
Opposition sources told An-Nahar that Jumblatt had made up his mind and told the opposition that he supports its candidate with no less than seven MPs. March 14 sources confirmed the news to An-Nahar.
"However, he will only be able to provide five votes from the Democratic Gathering, including his own, as most members of the bloc refuse to relinquish PM Saad Hariri’s nomination." the daily added.
Al-Akhbar said: “The opposition has done it and decided to form a monochromatic cabinet excluding the Future Movement. It would be able to do that through Jumblatt’s pledge [of support], which was made to the Syrian and opposition leaderships.”
The daily quoted sources as saying that he pledged the support of seven votes from the Democratic Gathering bloc, whereas other sources mentioned eight votes.
Ad-Diyar quoted opposition sources as saying that Jumblatt informed Speaker Nabih Berri that he will support the opposition [in the premiership nominations].
HARIRI: “TO RUN AGAIN FOR PREMIERSHIP”
Late Thursday head of the caretaker government Saad Hariri announced that his parliamentary bloc would nominate him for a new term, after press reports said he might withdraw his candidacy to prevent the escalation of the Lebanese current crisis.
BERRI WELCOMES
For his part, Berri welcomed Hariri's decision to abide by the constitution and accept democratic results “as much as MP Fouad Siniora did”.
However, he wondered why March 14 camp severely criticized the opposition’s constitutional decision to resign from the government.
CONFLICTING REPORTS OVER CONSULTATIONS DATE
Meanwhile, there have been conflicting reports Friday over the date of the parliamentary consultations.
As-Safir reported that figures who visited President Michel Sleiman quoted him as saying that the consultations [to nominate a new prime minister] are still set to be held as scheduled, that he refuses to allow the premiership vacancy to extend, and that he is in favor of a consensus among all parties on the formation of the cabinet as soon as possible.
However, al-Amustaqbal newspaper (one of Hariri’s media) said that consultations are likely to be postponed to give negotiations a chance.
"President Michel Suleiman is seeking contacts in two directions: the first is regional-political and internal with the various parties, and the second is security with the concerned security authorities to prevent violations that could occur in the street, “one source told the daily.
OPPOSITION NOMINATION: KARAMI
Newspapers also reported that the opposition candidate for the premiership is former PM Omar Karami.
“The opposition also reportedly informed Karami that it backed his candidacy and he reportedly accepted it,” An-Nahar said.
As-Safir said it had learned that intensive consultations were held over the past few hours on various levels within the opposition regarding the identity of the prospective premiership nominees, adding: “the most prominent of which seems to be former PM Omar Karami.”
“According to opposition sources, the opposition candidate for the premiership will be former PM Omar Karami,” Ad-Diyar reported.
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