President Lahoud has asked Premier-Designate Fouad Seniora to make a last-ditch effort with General Michel Aoun to join a projected government of 24 ministers from within and without parliament, expressing willingness to decree the cabinet without the General if he insists on staying out, An Nahar reported on Saturday. Seniora is expected to reopen negotiations with the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement over the weekend. If Aoun changes his stance, the cabinet lineup would be reshuffled accordingly. Otherwise, the decrees of the new government will be signed by the president on Monday at most, An Nahar said.

The general has not ruled out a switch in his position if Seniora's eleventh-hour bid reinstates a nationally balanced representation of the true political forces on the spectrum. "Otherwise, we will take to the street to demonstrate without arms," he told a news conference.

The General also told Hizbullah's Al Manar TV network that he would challenge the legality of the new government before the State's Constitutional Council if the current cabinet lineup is decreed as it is on the ground it does not abide by the national balance that the constitution provides for.

Hizbullah and Speaker Berri's Amal Movement, the co-leaders of Lebanon's Shiite community, have approved Seniora's latest cabinet lineup, which excluded Tayyar Al Mustaqbal's Shiite representative Ghazi Youssef, whom they vetoed in previous proposed cabinet lists.

An Nahar noted that Seniora's latest governmental blueprint gives the president and the Hizbullah-Amal alliance eight seats that make up for the so-called subversive one-third, combined.

Al Mustaqbal quoted Seniora as warning against "attempts to prove that the Lebanese cannot take charge of their own affairs." It said President Lahoud had promised Seniora to give his answer to the latest cabinet lineup on Saturday. The media said Lahoud will also approach Aoun separately to help Seniora win over the General. - Naharnet