Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat slammed the new majority’s failure to form a new government, saying that the PSP and National Struggle Front can no longer cover up the vacuum it has caused.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “The new majority has failed miserably in forming a new government.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed on Monday the importance of dialogue among all Lebanese in light of the Islamic-Christian summit scheduled to be held later this week.

He said after holding talks with Sunni Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani: “I think this an historic stand that Muslims and Christians would meet to announce their solidarity with all Arab people, especially the Egyptians who are passing through a critical phase caused by sectarian incitement.”

President Michel Suleiman held talks on Monday with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on the government formation process and local developments.

The MP left the meeting without issuing a statement.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati rejected attempts to throw the cabinet delay ball in his court, deciding to give consultations more time after Speaker Nabih Berri informed him that a de facto government would lead to negative repercussions, As Safir daily reported Monday.

Miqati’s circles told the newspaper that Miqati complied with the demand of Berri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat to back off from a plan to announce a de facto cabinet.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has called for the consolidation of the military institution, saying Lebanon would not exist without the unity of the nation and the army.

“There is no Lebanon without the unity of the country and the military institution,” Jumblat told a delegation headed by retired Maj. Gen. Shawki al-Masri that visited him in Mukhtara on Saturday.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati has for now shelved efforts to form a de facto government and vowed to give the cabinet formation process more time after talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and other mediators.

As part of intensified efforts to end the row between Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and President Michel Suleiman over the interior ministry portfolio, Miqati met Thursday night with Berri, Jumblat, the speaker’s advisor MP Ali Hassan Khalil, and Hussein Khalil, a political aide to Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Progressive Social Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said that he wanted to secretly equip PSP fighters with arms to prepare them for the “second round” of the clashes with Hizbullah after the May 7, 2008, clashes in Beirut, revealed a WikiLeaks cable published exclusively in al-Akhbar newspaper on Thursday.

“We look forward to a second round… we should be prepared… I admit that Hizbullah won the first round,” he told then U.S. Charge d’Affaires Michele Sison during a meeting on May 15, 2008.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated that the efforts to form a new government in Lebanon “have reached a dead end.”

He told al-Liwa newspaper in remarks published on Thursday: “The dead end has been caused by the futile demands made by some members of the new majority.”

Hizbullah committed a major mistake during the May 2008 incidents, said then Army Commander Michel Suleiman, revealed a leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar on Wednesday.

The May 12, 2008, WikiLeaks cable spoke of a meeting between Suleiman and then Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy Michele Sison during which the former accused Hizbullah of militia activity.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has reportedly declared that he was trying to provide his party and the Progressive Socialist Party, led by Walid Jumblat, with arms and ammunition.

In a WikiLeaks cable dated May 12, 2008 published in al-Akhbar newspaper on Tuesday, Geagea said that he was “working with Internal Security Forces chief Maj-Gen. Ashraf Rifi to buy ammunition for his militia and PSP fighters.”