The government formation process remains stuck in Lebanon.

negotiations stumble in particular on the issue of the allocation of the finance portfolio, which Hezbollah and the Amal movement, the two main Shiite political forces, refuse to cede.

The latter demand that a personality from their community, and of their choice, take over this sovereign ministry, as has been the case since 2014. In their eyes, this is an essential guarantee because in Lebanon, decrees are generally co-signed by the President of the Republic who is Maronite, by the Prime Minister who comes from the Sunni community, as well as by the Minister of Finance.

To renounce this prerogative would amount, according to them, to losing the Shiite countersignature on the main decisions of the executive, while the Lebanese political system is based on confessionalism and political bargaining.

"We refuse to have our ministers appointed in our place. And we refuse to be opposed to the component that we represent does not have the finance ministry," Hezbollah said in a statement released on Friday. September 17.

The blockage around this portfolio jeopardizes the efforts of France, very invested in Lebanon since the double explosion of August 4 at the port of Beirut, to obtain the rapid formation of a government while the country faces a crisis acute economic.

While the Prime Minister-designate Moustapha Diab intends to question the historic division of ministerial portfolios on a confessional basis, the determination to win the cause of Hezbollah and the Amal movement, led by the president of the Parliament Nabih Berri, is beginning to take hold. isolate these two formations on the political scene of the country of the Cedar.

Even the influential Maronite patriarch Béchara Raï implicitly vilified the Shiite tandem on Sunday during his Sunday homily.

"In what capacity does a community claim a ministry, as if it belongs to it, and obstruct the formation of the government until it obtains what it wants, thus causing political paralysis? Where does the Constitution allow a monopoly over a ministerial portfolio? ”he asked.

The Hezbollah Aoun alliance weakened

But the blocking of the Shiite tandem also seems to embarrass the camp of President Michel Aoun, yet an unwavering political ally of Hezbollah since 2006.

If a cabinet is not formed, "we are heading towards hell", launched Monday the head of state, who proposed to remove the community distribution of so-called "sovereign" portfolios to resolve the crisis.

On Saturday, it was the Courant patriotique libre (CPL), founded by Michel Aoun and led by his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, which had issued a statement condemning the principle that "a party may impose its countersignature on the Lebanese in a manner contrary to the Constitution and the customs in force ".

An implicit pike directed against the two Shiite movements, members like the CPL of the majority in Parliament.

President Aoun, whom his detractors call "Hezbollah's Christian backing", is he turning his back on his alliance with the pro-Iran movement?

The head of state replied in the negative on Monday during his press conference.

While assuring that the agreement signed in 2006 with the Shiite party was still in force, and that "alliances did not prevent disagreements", he nevertheless threw the ball in the court of his ally, specifying that the solution was to be looked for on their side.

“When there is a disagreement, everyone relies on their convictions, and mine are based on the Constitution,” he also said.

"This is not the first time that there have been disagreements between Hezbollah and the CPL, but it is true that the blockage around the finance portfolio isolates the Shiite tandem a little more," Joseph Daher said to France 24 , scholar and author of the book "Hezbollah, a religious fundamentalism put to the test of neoliberalism" (Éd. Syllepse). 

He added: "If the party of President Aoun seems to stand out from its Shiite ally lately, it is too early to speak of a questioning of their alliance, because neither of the two camps has an interest in a break in which they would both lose ".

Lebanese media report that the sanctions imposed by the US administration on September 8 on two former ministers from parties allied with Hezbollah, considered a "terrorist" organization by Washington, caused an electric shock within the Lebanese political class. .

By expressly targeting Ali Hassan Khalil, one of the pillars of the Shiite Amal movement, and Youssef Fenianos, a Christian cadre of the Maradas (prosyrian) party, Washington suggests that no one is immune from its strategy to weaken and isolate Hezbollah.

"The isolation of the Shiite tandem comes at the wrong time at a time when the United States is proving intractable with everything that has to do with Iran and its allies, continues Joseph Daher. The sanctions will make Hezbollah allies think. , it's obvious".

Paradoxically, it is this policy of sanctions, intervened at the same time when France had offered a breath of fresh air to Hassan Nasrallah's party by publicly dialoguing with him, which pushed the Shiite tandem to be less conciliatory during the negotiations aimed at to form a government. 

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