Jumblatt blasts March 14 slogans

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Lebanese political leaders cannot be prisoners to the slogans offered by members of the ruling March 14 coalition, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said.

Jumblatt spoke to reporters following a meeting with the Hezbollah-backed Lebanese cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah to discuss political issues in Beirut.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri led his March 14 slate to victory in the June parliamentary elections. Despite a power-sharing agreement with members of the opposition March 8 coalition, Hariri's efforts to form a new unity government have been plagued by political bickering and key defections.

Jumblatt in a message to March 14 said it was time for the ruling alliance to reconsider its agenda as efforts to form a new government continue to stall, Hezbollah's al-Manar news agency reports.

"We can't remain prisoners of slogans of freedom, sovereignty, and independence," he added.

Jumblatt caused a firestorm in the Lebanese political climate when he announced in August that his "necessary" alliance with March 14 had ended.

Analysts had expressed concern that if members of the Jumblatt-led Progressive Socialist Party followed the Druze leader out of March 14, the anti-Syrian coalition will lose the majority it had secured in the June elections and subsequently cast doubts on the nomination of Saad Hariri as the next prime minister.