The new dispute between Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and President Michel Suleiman on the sixth Maronite minister in the new cabinet began to take its toll on the country’s political stability.

Consultations aimed at forming the government have lately hit the new snag of the sixth Maronite minister, whom Aoun refuses to be from Jbeil or Kesrouan to avoid being marginalized in the 2013 parliamentary elections.

President Michel Suleiman and Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri have given their consent to a proposal to hold an extraordinary cabinet session to renew the mandate of Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh, An Nahar daily said Wednesday.

The newspaper reported that Suleiman and Hariri accepted such a proposal as an alternative to Speaker Nabih Berri’s call to hold a parliamentary session that in addition to the mandate’s renewal has 48 other items on the agenda.

The March 14 forces are accusing Speaker Nabih Berri of seeking to revive the confrontation between them and the March 8 coalition by insisting on holding a parliamentary session on Wednesday.

An Nahar daily on Tuesday quoted March 14 parliamentary sources as saying that Berri’s “unconstitutional” move would pave way for a bigger conflict than the existing dispute between the two sides.

Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil stressed that the Change and Reform bloc wants a confirmation from Premier-designate Najib Miqati that a deal on the cabinet makeup was final before giving him a list of names of its candidates for the new cabinet.

Bassil, who is Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun’s son-in-law, told An Nahar daily published Tuesday that the bloc “is waiting for the final confirmation of the agreement reached” between the different parties.

A major hurdle preventing the formation of the new cabinet began surfacing this week after Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun insisted that the candidate for the second Maronite minister, part of President Michel Suleiman’s share, should not be from Jbeil and Kesrouan.

Beirut newspapers quoted informed sources as saying on Tuesday that for election reasons, Aoun is refusing that the sixth Maronite minister in the cabinet be from Jbeil and Kesrouan for fears that Suleiman would undercut the FPM chief’s popular base in the two regions in the parliamentary elections in 2013.

President Michel Suleiman has prepared all the necessary steps to renew the term of the Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh “at the right time”, An Nahar daily reported on Monday.

The newspaper said that Suleiman is still giving the new cabinet the priority to renew Salameh’s term once it’s formed.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged on Sunday the political leaders in Lebanon to speed up the government formation process.

He said in his Sunday sermon: “We hope they would immediately help the country out of the crisis through the formation of a Cabinet that would only work towards bolstering the dignity of the Lebanese people.”

Premier-designate Najib Miqati did not propose a cabinet line-up to President Michel Suleiman during their meeting on Friday but the head of state hoped that the government would be formed by mid next week, presidential sources told As Safir daily on Saturday.

The sources expressed optimism at the latest consultations aimed at forming the government. They expected results soon if the “positive atmosphere” remained.

The parties involved in the formation of the cabinet have agreed on the government’s makeup and distribution of shares and portfolios, which allows Premier-designate Najib Miqati to “match names with portfolios,” high-ranking sources from the Change and Reform bloc said.

The sources told An Nahar daily on Saturday that the bloc, which is led by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, gave a 95 percent rate for the success of the latest deal apart from Miqati’s role.

The stance of President Michel Suleiman on how to renew the mandate of Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh is not clear yet as some sources say that he prefers the adoption of “mobile draft-laws” while others claim that the head of state favors a cabinet session.

Sources close to Suleiman told As Safir daily on Friday that he rejects the adoption of the so-called mobile draft-laws and prefers “a consensual cabinet session” to only settle the crisis of the Central Bank governor if a new government was not formed.