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The announcement comes barely days after prime minister-designate Saad Hariri stepped down from the post
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Appointed last October, the veteran politician took this step amid deep disagreements with the president over how to allocate ministerial posts
Lebanon will begin parliamentary consultations to designate a new prime minister and Cabinet from July 26, said local reports on Monday, July 19.
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun made the announcement through his office’s Twitter handle on Monday.
This comes barely days after prime minister-designate Saad Hariri stepped down from the post.
Appointed last October, the veteran politician took this step amid deep disagreements with Aoun over how to allocate ministerial posts.
The Sunday before that happened, Hariri urged world leaders to send in the aid they promised, fearing that otherwise the country would spiral further into chaos.
However, the countries that had promised aid maintained that they had not seen the anti-corruption reforms they had set as condition for the aid, and did not send in any monetary help, forcing Hariri to resign.
Now, the presidential palace has said Aoun will meet former prime ministers, including Hariri, Najib Mikati and Tammam Salam, on the morning of July 26 to kick off discussions on who should be the next prime minister of the country.
Aoun will then receive delegations of members of Parliament to discuss the issue.
Vice-president Elie Ferzli was quoted by the local reports as saying that Mikati was the top choice. One of the richest men in Lebanon, he has already served twice as prime minister in the past two decades.
Meanwhile, the economic and financial crisis in Lebanon has caused power cuts and fuel shortages unseen since the end of the civil war three decades ago.
The Lebanese pound’s market value is now worth less than 10% of the official peg, with blame being placed on the country’s central bank chief Riad Salameh.
