New Lebanon gov’t on verge of being unveiled: Acting PM

BEIRUT (AA) - Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has said that he plans to present his new cabinet lineup to President Michel Aoun late Thursday evening.

A well-informed source who preferred anonymity told Anadolu Agency that Hariri had already gone to the Baabda presidential palace in Beirut to submit his proposed government lineup.

According to the same source, the new lineup -- which will finally be unveiled after an eight-month political stalemate -- includes 30 cabinet ministers from all of the country’s main political forces.

"The incoming government will have to make difficult choices, not least of which will be how to reduce the state budget," Hariri said in televised remarks earlier Thursday.

Ever since Lebanon held parliamentary polls in May of last year, Hariri has struggled to draw up a new government.

The process has faced repeated delays amid mutual recriminations between leading political forces and demands by certain parties for greater representation.