'Who cares?' -- Lebanese weary of arduous talks to form govt

Lebanese taxi driver William Hanna couldn't care less that his country has been without a government for five months, a feeling shared by many fellow Lebanese sickened by the endless bickering of their politicians.

"I gave up listening to the news a while back," said the 52-year-old from the town of Jounieh, north of Beirut. "It's business as usual anyway so why get a headache thinking about politics?"

The Mediterranean country of four million people has been without a government since a June 7 general election that saw a Western- and Saudi-backed coalition clinch victory over an alliance of parties headed by the militant group Hezbollah, which is supported by Syria and Iran.

Prime minister-designate Saad Hariri, who heads the parliamentary majority, has since stumbled in efforts to put together a cabinet of national unity because of disagreement with his rivals over the distribution of portfolios and the choice of ministers.

The initial wave of optimism among the Lebanese that the government would be formed quickly has turned to cynicism amid empty promises every day that a solution was imminent.

The delay in the government formation has also become fodder for satirical television programmes, newspaper editorials and letters by many a newspaper reader.

Even the politicians themselves are red-faced and at a loss for words when trying to explain the issue.

"Does Lebanon's political leadership realise (...) that the government and the obstacles blocking its formation have become the least worry of the Lebanese?" said an editorial Thursday by majority MP Nayla Tueni in the An-Nahar newspaper run by her family.

"No one believes anymore what they hear and what they are led to believe one day is contradicted the next," she added.

Rafiq Khoury, editor-in-chief of the independent Al-Anwar daily, likened the government formation process to being stuck in "the Tower of Babel where everyone speaks a different language."

Elias Chedid for his part wondered in a letter-to-the-editor published in the French daily L'Orient-Le Jour this week whether a government was really necessary.

"What have previous cabinets done to improve our economy," he wrote. "We can live with a government but we're so much better off without one."

The daily Al-Akhbar, close to the opposition, summed up the feeling of many in a headline last week that warned readers: "What you are about to read is not old news nor a printing error but rather statements we keep hearing every day."

One drawing by well-known cartoonist Stavro in the daily Al-Balad showed the author watching television and holding a piece of paper that read "government formation."

The caption added: "Get it over with. We're sick of you. Aren't you sick of yourselves?"

A satirical television show meanwhile made light of the situation by featuring a 90-year-old man using a cane and walking into a clinic where he introduced himself as the current outgoing premier Fuad Siniora.

Siniora today is 65 years old.