No party in the country has an interest in heading towards a vacuum in the presidential offices, considering that there is a significant group in the country that does not recognize the legitimacy of the caretaker government to manage the presidential vacuum after October 31, the date when President Michel Aoun's term ends. This significant group also does not believe that any government resembling the resigning Mikati government is suitable in terms of composition and performance to manage a crisis like the one we are experiencing and to follow up on sensitive issues related to economic security, most notably the maritime border demarcation issue with occupied Palestine.
Consequently, Prime Minister Najib Mikati's problem regarding the addition of political ministers to the government is no longer limited to just President Aoun. The national duo has entered the scene, demanding an expanded political government. Leadership sources in the duo confirmed that they cannot accept a technocratic government, or what can be described as a "disguised political" government, to follow up on the maritime border demarcation issue and to restructure the country’s economic and political systems. According to these sources, the demand is not a hindrance as promoted by Mikati or any other party, but rather very realistic if we try to view the formation of the government from a different perspective, away from rivalries and disputes.
The sources ask: First, where is the problem if we enhance the government with political ministers? Can Mikati handle the obstacles of opening the country to a constitutional and sectarian crisis if President Aoun does not agree to hand over management to a "deficient" government, as he calls it? Secondly, can a regular or technocratic government address the maritime border demarcation issue amidst a presidential vacuum or make political and security decisions if we go to war with the Israeli enemy?
Naturally, the national duo does not deny the difficulty of forming a government given Aoun and Mikati's handling of it as a settlement of scores. However, the duo will not remain neutral. Its sources affirmed, even with certainty, that there are communications taking place at the highest levels to try to find a way out for forming the government before President Aoun's term ends, revealing that meetings and communications will take place this weekend regarding the government formation file, and confirming that leaders in the duo have communicated directly with President Aoun and that there were off-the-record meetings with Mikati in a serious attempt to form the government.
In this regard, the sources confirmed that the insistence on expanding the government and including political ministers does not mean closing the door on reviving Mikati's government with some amendments to certain names. There is a proposal being discussed on a limited scale to keep Mikati's government as it is and replace some technocrat ministers with political ministers, with one political minister assigned to each group.
It appears that the duo is determined to form the government to prevent entering into constitutional debates and political mazes, such as Aoun starting, under the cover of Bkerke, to remain in Baabda or forming a military government that seems to have its constitutional and religious "fatwa" ready. Here, a leading figure in the national duo affirmed, "A government will be formed even in the last minutes before President Aoun's term ends... and the country is rich in avoiding any constitutional and political problems that could at any moment lead to an explosion in the security situation."
