In his first public address on Thursday, Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab said he would work quickly to form a government that represents a wide array of people following consultations with political parties as well as representatives of the protest movement.

He said he is committed to a reform plan and described the current situation as "critical and sensitive" and requiring exceptional efforts and collaboration.

Lebanese academic and former minister Hassan Diab on Thursday received 69 votes in the binding parliamentary consultations to name a new PM, as former Lebanese ambassador to the U.N. Nawaf Salam received 13 votes and 42 MPs refrained from naming anyone.

MP Paula Yacoubian meanwhile named civil society figure Halima Qaaqour.

Lebanese academic and former minister Hassan Diab received the backing of Hizbullah and looked set Thursday to be named the crisis-wracked country's new prime minister.

Caretaker premier Saad Hariri pulled out of the race on Wednesday and his bloc did not nominate any candidate when much-delayed consultations to form a new government got under way at the presidential palace.

Caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil reportedly invited IMF officials for talks on potentials to secure a “safe landing” for a worsening economic crisis in Lebanon, Nidaa al-Watan daily reported on Thursday.

Lebanon has been paralysed by two months of protests demanding an overhaul of the entire political system.

MP Sethrida Geagea of the Lebanese Forces bloc on Wednesday lauded caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s decision to withdraw his nomination for the PM post as a “wise national stance.”

Geagea said Hariri rejected to head a government not comprised of experts because it “would not meet the demands of the Lebanese people in this critical period in Lebanon economically and financially.”

Caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Wednesday lauded caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s decision to withdraw his nomination for the PM post, urging him to suggest a “credible and capable” candidate.

“We appreciate the responsible stance that Mr. Prime Minister Saad Hariri took by announcing that he is no longer nominated to head the next government and that he will go to the binding parliamentary consultations tomorrow,” Bassil said in a written statement.

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday withdrew his nomination for the PM post and stressed that Thursday’s binding parliamentary consultations to pick a new PM “should not be postponed under any excuse.”

“Ever since I tendered my resignation 50 days ago in response to the scream of the Lebanese, I have strenuously sought to fulfill their demand of forming a government of experts, which I believe that it alone can address the dangerous social and economic crisis that our country is facing,” Hariri said in a written statement.

Speaker Nabih Berri has advised caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri to communicate with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil over the FPM’s participation in the new government, al-Jadeed TV reported on Wednesday.

“But so far no meeting has been scheduled between Hariri and Bassil,” al-Jadeed said.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan held phone talks Wednesday in the wake of the latest Sunni-Shiites tensions in the country.

In their discussions, Berri and Daryan emphasized on “the unity of Muslims within national unity and the unity of the Lebanese,” the National News Agency said.