The cabinet convened on Thursday following a three-week suspension but the session witnessed arguments among ministers on several controversial issues, infuriating Prime Minister Tammam Salam.

“We couldn’t agree during the cabinet session today. In the absence of a president there is no clear mechanism on the authorities of each minister,” Education Minister Elias Bou Saab said following the session.

He is one of two ministers representing the Free Patriotic Movement, which had caused the three-week suspension of sessions over its demand for the article on the appointment of high-ranking security and military officials to top the cabinet agenda.

In the absence of the president, the cabinet had agreed on a decision-making mechanism by consensus among the ministers. But ministers representing different parties began to put sticks in the wheels of the government, leading it to paralysis.

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