Premier Tammam Salam appears to be walking on a tightrope in his attempts to maintain unity within his divided Cabinet, which leaves important issues unresolved.
Since he formed a 24-member Cabinet last February following an 11-month deadlock, Salam has called for a consensus among ministers on any decision, while stressing that divisive issues should be brushed aside.
After the Cabinet began exercising the president’s prerogatives following Parliament’s failure to elect a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, whose six-year term ended on May 25, Salam has adopted the collective vote formula, which requires the approval of the 23 ministers on important decisions.
However, obtaining the approval of the 23 ministers on any decision has proved difficult, if not impossible, in many cases prompting Salam to postpone discussion of contentious issues.
Salam has never said that he heads a parliamentary bloc that allows him to impose a solution, or to enter into an alliance with a specific party inside the Cabinet to break the ice in any of the outstanding issues, especially those related to the citizens’ daily life such as electricity, phones and garbage collection.
Instead, he has always repeated that political forces represented in the Cabinet should be aware of their responsibilities.
Without a consensus among these forces on small and big issues inside the Cabinet, Salam said, “nothing can be decided and the solution in this case is the postponement [of outstanding issues] and formation of ministerial committees.”
Political observers disagree in assessing the performance of Salam who is heading “a government of national interest” representing the country’s rival factions. This government was born in a Caesarean operation following an 11-month wait and as a result of a Saudi-Iranian understanding sponsored by France.
There is one faction that sees Salam adopting the “sponge policy” which sucks up all differences and contradictions inside the Cabinet in order to avert its collapse. Salam realizes that any major blow can lead to the toppling of his Cabinet, which was formed on the basis of inharmonious balances, which make it vulnerable.
So every time differences emerge among the ministers over any issue, the prime minister postpones discussion or at best he forms a ministerial committee to deal with the situation.
This faction holds Salam responsible for the presence of too many “heads” inside the Cabinet when he decided to adopt the collective vote formula which requires the approval of the 23 ministers, overriding the Constitution which stipulates voting with a majority on normal issues, or a two-third majority on key issues.
There is another faction that sees Salam as unlikely to disagree with anyone because he considers that his Cabinet is not exercising executive power only, but also the president’s prerogatives.
Yet, some “wily” observers say that Salam is adopting a policy to disassociate himself from ministerial differences so that he can stay in a neutral position that qualifies him to return to the Grand Serail, the prime minister’s office, if Lebanon’s next president was the result of a political compromise.
Overall, political observers say that Salam’s performance has presented a unique case in the traditions of exercising power by prime ministers, particularly in the post-1989 Taif Accord period.
This period saw some prime ministers, like former premier Rafik Hariri, upholding their prerogatives and role, and others, like former premier Fouad Siniora, running the Cabinet sessions in a professional manner but with shrewdness.
However, Salam, with his political performance, has introduced a new political phenomenon that has its negative and positive aspects.
This phenomenon is worthy of following up as long as Salam has been able to protect his government from collapse.
Clearly, Salam has managed to overcome political and security “traps” set in the way of his government since it was formed 10 months ago.
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