Saad Hariri has made a final decision to name his father's favorite Finance Minister Fouad Seniora as Lebanon's next prime minister and President Lahoud was quoted Monday as saying he admires Seniora's statesmanship and would cooperate with him within the constitutional dictates. Media reports said Nabih Berri had also pledged support for Seniora's government, which is expected to be born in the next 10 days, in exchange for the decision of Saad's dominant bloc in the new parliament to back Berri's reelection for a fourth straight term as Speaker.

All 38 members of Hariri's Tayyar Al Mustaqbal bloc took the chain of decisions in a meeting they held at the Koreitem mansion Sunday evening, naming bloc member Farid Makari as Berri's vice speaker. Legislators Robert Ghanem of the Western Bekaa and Nicholas Fattoush of Zahleh attended as full-fledged allies.

With Saad's pledge of 38 supportive votes, Berri is assured of reelection with something like 90-100 votes when the 128-member legislature, with a record of six women on the benches, holds its inaugural session on Tuesday. Hizbullah and Walid Jumblat's bloc have already declared for Berri.

Seniora's designation process would be set in motion in a meeting Berri holds upon his reelection with Lahoud, who will conduct the mandatory consultations with parliament blocs. Seniora is certain to be nominated by an overwhelming majority, As Safir quoted sources of Tayyar Al Mustaqbal, or Future Tide, as saying.

The president then formally designates Seniora and he would quickly propose a cabinet lineup of 24 ministers almost exclusively from the March 14 uprising front. If Lahoud rejects it, Seniora gives up the task of forming the new government, but parliament will re-nominate him and he will hit Lahoud back with the same cabinet list, As Safir said.

If the president vetoes the cabinet list again, he will be formally declared responsible for the ensuing crisis of power vacuum, As Safir quoted the Koreitem sources as saying.

But the Beirut daily quoted sources close to Lahoud as saying such a development was far-fetched and that the president "welcomes cooperation with Seniora within constitutional frameworks" and hopes all forces represented in the new parliament would band together in conducting state affairs in the upcoming era.

Hariri's Christian allies within the March 14 uprising that expelled Syria from Lebanon in the wake of Rafik Hariri's assassination, however, have rebelled against Berri's reelection on the grounds he had been a staunch ally of Syria in the past 13 years as Speaker.

They have decided to cast white abstention ballots in the Speaker's election box in what An Nahar said would usher the "White Bloc" in the new parliament.

Saad, however, had told LF leader Samir Geagea during a face-to-face meeting at the defense ministry prison on Saturday that he had extracted pledges from Berri to convene a session of parliament by mid July to pass a bill of parole for Geagea's unconditional release.

Christian rebels have decided to cast white abstention ballots in the Speaker's election box in what An Nahar said would usher the "White Bloc" in the new parliament. Legislators of Qornet Shahwan, and Geagea's Lebanese Forces were expected to finalize the 'white ballots' stance in a meeting they are scheduled to hold at Sitrida Geagea's residence Monday evening. Gen. Aoun's bloc is expected to do the same in a simultaneous meeting at his Rabieh mansion.

Source: Naharnet