No new government will be formed before the Easter holiday, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati’s circles said in remarks published Monday.

“There will be no Cabinet before the holidays,” sources close to Mikati told An-Nahar newspaper, adding that Mikati would also take a break from talks to give new efforts a chance to mature. The Easter holiday, celebrated by Christians around the world, runs from April 22 to April 25.

“New considerations are actually being discussed,” the sources said.

However, they said that these ideas were still at a very early stage, “but the atmosphere is positive.”

The new announcement contradicted earlier statements by a senior March 8 source who said Mikati’s attempts to form a new government were now in the final stage with discussions focused on fine tuning the distribution of portfolios and finding a consensus candidate acceptable to all the parties.

“After agreement has been reached by the main parties on the division of shares, consultations are now centering on finalizing a draft of who gets what portfolio. This matter carries wrinkles that need to be ironed out,” the source told The Daily Star Sunday.

The source cited the Interior Ministry portfolio, which both President Michel Sleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun are vying over, as the last major hurdle to the formation of the Cabinet.

“There is some progress on the issue of the Interior Ministry calling for replacing [Caretaker Interior Minister] Ziyad Baroud with a consensus candidate who is close to President Sleiman but he should also be acceptable to all the parties,” the source said.

However, a source close to the Cabinet formation talks told The Daily Star Sunday night that Sleiman and some local parties preferred that the two major security portfolios – the defense and interior ministries – be held by candidates loyal to the president as is the case in caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s toppled government.