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| 30/05/2008 With a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the prime minister-elect Fouad Saniora started Friday his consultations at the Parliament with Lebanese MPs and parliamentary blocs to form the national-unity government, approved on at the Doha Agreement.
According to the mentioned accord, the government would include 16 ministers from the loyalty bloc, 11 for the opposition and three for the President. However, there is no final agreement yet on the distribution of the ministerial seats.
The head of the Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc MP Mohamad Raad said his bloc has told Saniora in the framework of consultations that it wants to appoint two opposition ministers, a Sunni Muslim and Druze in the forthcoming cabinet from Hezbollah part.
On behalf of the Liberation and Development parliament, MP Anwar Khalil said the bloc has asked Saniora to appoint a neutral interior minister to supervise the 2009 parliamentary elections and asked for fair distribution of basic portfolios.
For his part, the head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun said he informed Saniora that his bloc wants to be represented by five Christian ministers in the new cabinet stressing the ministerial statement should be based on the presidential oath address.
Member of the bloc MP Agope Pakradounian requested two Armenian ministers in the new cabinet "as an implementation of the Taif Agreement" and as the fulfillment of "a promise that [late] former PM Rafik Hariri had made." Pakradounian said he nominated former Minsiter Alain Tabourian for any ministry that would guarantee Armenian participation in the government.
From the loyalty bloc side, the head of the Future Movement MP Saad Hariri also expressed optimism and reiterated, after meeting Saniora alongside his bloc members, the need for all Lebanese parties to reach an agreement as soon as possible. "There is a considerably positive attitude among all parties, and no one intends to obstruct the solution," he added.
In the framework of consultations over the government formation, Saniora has also made on Thursday his customary visits to former prime ministers as well as the head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun with whom he held talks that were positive as Saniora said. He also contacted Muslim and Christian spiritual leaders in advance of the consultations. | 
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