Crisis-Hit Lebanon Holds Consultations to Pick New PM

Lebanon was on Monday holding binding parliamentary consultations to designate a new premier who will make the third attempt within a year to form a government amid deepening political and economic turmoil.

President Michel Aoun was holding the consultations with the parliamentary blocs in order to find a replacement for Saad Hariri, who quit as PM-designate on July 15 after nine months of political horse-trading failed to produce a new cabinet.

Talks began at the presidential palace at 10:30 am and will run until the afternoon with a final pick announced by the end of the day.

According to local media reports, billionaire businessman and two-time premier Najib Miqati is guaranteed to be named to form a new government.

Miqati, Hariri and ex-PM Tammam Salam were the first MPs to meet with Aoun in the morning.

As Miqati left Baabda without making a statement, Hariri said he named Miqati "in line with the course" that the club of Lebanon's former premiers agreed on Sunday at the Center House.

"We mustn't stop at petty things, because the country needs a government," Hariri added.

Salam for his part hoped for "an exit from this difficult situation according to correct constitutional rules."

"We hope ex-PM Miqati will form a government of specialists," Salam added.

MP Samir al-Jisr later announced that al-Mustaqbal bloc voted for Miqati and that it wishes him "success."

Asked whether Miqati will have the same government formation "conditions" as Hariri, Jisr told MTV that he hopes so.

Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc also named Miqati.

"Since the resignation of Hassan Diab's government in August 2020, the Loyalty to Resistance bloc has called for the formation of a government in order to facilitate the country's affairs," the head of the bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, said after meeting Aoun.

"We have always dealt very positively with all the efforts, and with the emergence of signs pointing to the possible formation of a government, we have voted for ex-PM Najib Miqati," Raad added.

The Marada-led 'National Bloc' and the Democratic Gathering bloc of the Progressive Socialist Party also voted for Miqati.

Miqati's Independent Center bloc and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party's bloc also voted for the ex-PM.

"The Social Nationalist bloc is against vacuum in the state and it wants the presence of a government as soon as possible," MP Asaad Hardan of the SSNP said after meeting Aoun.

As for the Consultative Gathering, which is a grouping of pro-Hizbullah Sunni MPs, Abdul Rahim Mrad and Adnan Trabulsi named Miqati as Faisal Karami and Al-Walid Sukkariyeh refrained from naming anyone.

MP Talal Arslan meanwhile announced in a statement that he would boycott the consultations and that his four-member Mountain Guarantee bloc would announce the bloc's "collective stance."

MP Nouhad al-Mashnouq also announced his boycott of the consultations while noting that he respects Miqati as a person and Aoun's constitutional call for the talks.

"I don't see in this course any prospects" for success, Mashnouq tweeted.

"In its current characteristics, the French key is incapable of opening the Arab doors, which are practically and authentically concerned with helping Lebanon. May God help the Lebanese and us to bear what is coming," Mashnouq added, noting that the coming phase will be "more difficult."

The Lebanese Forces-led Strong Republic bloc meanwhile abstained from endorsing any candidate.

"We have not named anyone because we consider that we should be honest towards the people and ourselves," MP Georges Adwan of the LF said after meeting Aoun.

"The Strong Republic bloc will not provide a cover to this system and majority in any way whatsoever and we will seek to rid the people of it as soon as possible," Adwan added.

"We will not take part in the government and we will be in the opposition," he went on to say.

Independent MPs Eddie Demirjian and Michel Daher meanwhile announced their endorsement of Miqati as MP Osama Saad abstained from voting for anyone.

"The ruling system is once again trying to reproduce itself... The tragedies did not come from abroad; they were created by the ruling authorities," Saad said.

"My pledge to the people and to myself is not to name anyone from the ruling class," he added.

And as independent MP Fouad Mahzoumi named Nawwaf Salam, the MPs Jean Talouzian, Jihad al-Samad and Michel Daher named Miqati, as the MPs Chamel Roukoz and Jamil al-Sayyed abstained from endorsing any candidate.

Speaker Nabih Berri's Development and Liberation bloc meanwhile voted for Miqati as the Strong Lebanon bloc and the Armenian bloc abstained from naming anyone.

The country has been without a fully functioning government since then-prime minister Hassan Diab resigned in the wake of the Beirut port explosion that killed more than 200 people last August.

Despite an economic crisis branded by the World Bank as one of the world's worst since the mid-19th century, political squabbling has repeatedly thwarted progress, with two designated premiers failing to form a cabinet since then.

If selected, the 65-year-old Miqati will be expected to deliver a lineup that satisfies political leaders jostling for cabinet shares and ministerial portfolios.

He faces major Christian opposition, after Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces party announced that they would not vote for him.

Speaking after meeting the President, FPM chief Jebran Bassil wished the PM-designate success in forming the government in a swift manner, adding that his bloc "will support the reformist mission that is required from the government."

"Our previous experience with PM Miqati was not encouraging," Bassil added.

He also noted that the FPM decided not to name any candidate "after MP Faisal Karami refrained from nominating himself" and the failure of Nawwaf Salam's nomination.

Miqati, a Sunni billionaire from the northern city of Tripoli, served as prime minister in 2005 and from 2011 to 2013, when he resigned at the height of the Syrian war after a two-year stint in a government dominated by Hizbullah and its allies. He is believed to enjoy the support of France and also the United States.

On the eve of consultations, dozens of protesters gathered outside Miqati's Beirut home, accusing him of corruption and cronyism.

But Lebanon's bickering politicians view him as a consensus candidate who could be capable of easing a political impasse that has stymied efforts towards forming a government that is desperately needed to help unlock international aid.

It could take months before an actual government is formed, but crisis-hit Lebanon, grappling with soaring poverty, a plummeting currency and shortages of basic items from medicine to fuel, can ill afford any delays.

International donors led by former colonial power France have pledged millions of dollars in humanitarian aid, but conditioned it on Lebanon installing a government capable of tackling corruption.

But even as international pressure mounted, with threats of European Union sanctions against them, Lebanese politicians have failed to make any serious progress.

France this month said it would host an aid conference on August 4 to "respond to the needs of the Lebanese, whose situation is deteriorating every day."

The date of the conference coincides with the first anniversary of the port blast which is widely blamed on decades of negligence by the country's ruling class.