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Speaker Nabih Berri facilitated the formation of the new government in Lebanon last week, by accepting to reduce the ‘Shia share’ by 1 seat to 5, allowing the Sunni’s share to be increased to 7 seats in a 30 ministers cabinet.

This is the first time since the Taef Agreement (that mostly ended the civil war) in 1989 that the Sunni and Shia shares are not equal. This precedent was called a ‘sacrifice’ by Berri’s allies, while others were less enthusiastic about it; mostly Christian figures who had some reservations about it (from March 8 & March 14).

Although almost all Lebanese politicians aspire publicly to end the sectarian quotas in the state, but they don’t miss any opportunity to cling onto them, as the current system guarantees their own sustainability. Although Berri’s move is surely not motivated by this aim, but I think this precedent is not bad in this respect. It’s ‘ok’ for our sect to take less than others. Moreover, our constitution requires a 50/50 split between Christianity and Islam in the state appointments (government and others), but it doesn’t say much on the distribution within the same religion between the different sects; the rest is usually done according to conventions. That said, I don’t usually crow about things Nahib Berri does: my previous posts say that: ‘The 60 years of Nabih Berri‘. or ‘Wondering what Lebanon’s problem is?‘
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