March 14 returns Siniora to premier's seat to offset losses in Doha - analysts

Rather than expending parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri's political capital in a short-lived, fractious "unity" cabinet, the March 14 coalition has cast outgoing Premier Fouad Siniora back into the prime minister's seat to offset the camp's perceived losses from the Doha accord and to steer the coming government through the expected gloomy conditions, a number of analysts told The Daily Star on Wednesday.

During the talks between the March 14 and March 8 leaders in Doha earlier this month, many had suggested an emerging unity government could offer Hariri the chance to take the political mantle of his father, assassinated five-time former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. However,despite the bonhomie attending the political settlement reached in Doha, the political tensions that soured the past 18 months will still cling to the next administration, which will govern only until the general elections slated for May 2009, said Oussama Safa, executive director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies.

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