Beirut, Lebanon – Lebanon has been without a fully functional government for almost 10 months, with President Michel Aoun and returning Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri unable to agree on a cabinet.
Disagreements focus on the number of ministers and how they will be allocated based on sectarian and political representation. The two have been unable to settle their differences, having met 18 times since Hariri’s appointment in October.
Hariri and his political party, the Future Movement, insist they are pushing for a technocratic government that focuses on reforms.
“They [Aoun and allies] want a government that they can control and have veto power,” MP Mohamad Hajjar of the Future Movement told Al Jazeera. “Hariri’s government of experts has sectarian balance and representation of Muslims and Christians, but they want a government based on quotas.”