BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri’s bloc will back Saad Hariri for the premiership, but Hezbollah’s bloc will not, political sources said Wednesday, as the head of the Future Movement appeared certain to clinch an overwhelming parliamentary majority to be named the next prime minister.

The outcome of the first day of President Michel Aoun’s binding consultations with political leaders and heads of parliamentary blocs on naming a new prime minister showed that Hariri has garnered the support of 86 MPs, or two-thirds of the 128-member legislature, out of the 90 lawmakers polled by the newly elected president.

After having met with most of the major blocs, Aoun is scheduled to wrap up his talks on naming a prime minister Thursday by meeting with Berri’s 13-member Development and Liberation bloc, Hezbollah’s 13-member Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, the Armenian MPs’ bloc, and a number of independent lawmakers before officially designating Hariri for the premiership post.

Berri, who had vehemently opposed Aoun’s election to the presidency, chaired a meeting of his bloc to decide its stance on the consultations to designate a prime minster and the formation of a new government.

No decision was made on who the bloc would name as prime minister. “The bloc decided to leave the issue of naming a prime minister to Speaker Berri,” MP Anwar Khalil told reporters after the meeting at Berri’s Ain al-Tineh residence.

But political sources said that Berri’s bloc will name Hariri to be prime minister as a means of securing Shiite support for the premiership in line with the National Charter, which enshrines equal power sharing between Muslims and Christians. “Speaker Berri, out of his concern to provide a Shiite cover for the premiership issue, will name Hariri for prime minister,” a political source told The Daily Star.

“Berri’s decision will subsequently likely lead to the Amal Movement’s participation in the new government to be formed by Hariri.”

As a condition for joining the new government, Berri is demanding two key portfolios: The Finance and Energy ministries, the source added.

As in previous Cabinet formation attempts, Hezbollah’s 13-member bloc will not name Hariri for prime minister because of long-standing political differences between the two sides over the party’s arsenal and its deep involvement in the 5-year-old war in Syria.

“Hezbollah’s bloc will not name Hariri for the premiership during Thursday’s consultations with President Aoun,” a senior March 8 source told The Daily Star Wednesday night.

Unlike Berri’s bloc which cast blank ballots during Monday’s Parliament session that elected Aoun to the presidency, Hezbollah’s bloc voted for the founder of the Free Patriotic Movement.

Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad signaled that the party and the Amal Movement would adopt a joint stance on the Cabinet formation attempts. “We and Speaker Berri are in the same Cabinet boat,” Fayyad told reporters after meeting Berri as part of the speaker’s weekly meeting with lawmakers at Ain al-Tineh.

In a statement issued after its meeting, Berri’s bloc expressed hope that the next government would embody “national unity in order to protect the nation from current dangers.” The bloc expressed its readiness to cooperate with Aoun to “achieve national goals and purposes and build the state of institutions with a view to consolidating the state of law and the democratic parliamentary system.”

A senior Hezbollah official also called for the formation of a national unity government that is comprised of all factions.

“We support the formation of a national unity government that does not exclude anyone and does not work through a spiteful logic,” Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek, head of Hezbollah’s Shariah Council, said during a memorial service for one of the group’s fighters in the southern city of Tyre.

Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed faith the election of Aoun as president. “I believe that your rich political experience will assist you in addressing complex tasks that Lebanon is currently facing,” Putin said in a cable sent to Aoun. Putin was the latest world leader to welcome Aoun’s election that ended a crippling 2-1/2-year presidential vacuum.

The 83-year-old Aoun, a former Army commander, was elected by Parliament Monday as Lebanon’s 13th president with an absolute majority. Aoun’s election was part of a political deal reached between the Future Movement and the FPM that also called for Hariri’s return to the premiership.

Judging by previous Cabinet formation attempts, Hariri is expected to face a tough challenge in his efforts to put together a national unity government, given the diametrically conflicting demands of the rival factions vying for key ministerial portfolios.

However, Future Movement MP Ammar Houri sounded optimistic that the formation of a new government would not take long because Lebanon is going through “a delicate and sensitive stage at the national and economic levels.”

“There are no obstacles in the way of the Cabinet formation. There are only some details on portfolios and conditions exchanged among blocs. This is normal in a democratic country,” Houri told the Voice of Lebanon radio station (100.5).

On the first day of consultations, all but two blocs named Hariri for prime minister: The Baath Party bloc (2 MPs) said that it did not name anyone for prime minister, while the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (2 MPs) left the decision to Aoun.

Aoun began his consultations at Baabda Palace by meeting separately with caretaker Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Hariri and former premiers Najib Mikati and Fouad Siniora, all of whom named Hariri for prime minister.

Salam, whose 24-member Cabinet is now serving in a caretaker capacity after the election of the president, underlined the need for the formation of a national unity government.

“We all aspire [following Aoun’s election] to forming an all-embracing national government led by [former] Prime Minister Saad Hariri. As far I am concerned, I will be returning the trust to its owner,” Salam told reporters at Baabda Palace, referring to Hariri.

Hariri did not speak to reporters after his talks with Aoun, but was part of the Future bloc’s delegation that met with the president on naming a prime minister.

The 33-member Future bloc reiterated its support for Hariri for the premiership, describing talks with Aoun as “excellent.”

“We consider that Hariri will, God willing, be the man of the next stage to form a government,” Siniora told reporters after the bloc’s meeting with Aoun.

Aoun’s 18-member Change and Reform bloc named Hariri for the premiership post, as did the Lebanese Forces’ eight-member bloc, Metn MP Michel Murr and MP Nayla Tueni.

In the afternoon consultations, outgoing Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb, the five lawmakers from the Kataeb Party, Talal Arslan’s bloc, MP Sleiman Frangieh’s United Free Lebanon bloc (2 MPs) and MP Walid Jumblatt’s Democratic Gathering bloc (11 MPs), also backed Hariri for prime minister.

“The Kataeb nominated [former] Prime Minister Hariri for heading the government because he represents a symbol of moderation in a region that is witnessing fanaticism and extremism,” Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel told reporters after meeting Aoun.

Frangieh did not come to Baabda Palace, and instead sent two members of his bloc, MPs Estephan Douaihy and Salim Karam, to meet Aoun.