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Beirut (AFP)
On Wednesday, Lebanese President Michel Aoun retained the head of the Future Movement, Saad Hariri, who will probably assign him tomorrow the formation of a new government, the responsibility of fighting corruption and launching the reform workshop, but without naming him, accusing to the political forces to provoke the crisis in which the country has unleashed.
On Thursday, Aoun is holding parliamentary consultations to name a new prime minister, likely to be Hariri, after a majority of MPs announced their support for his nomination. Noting that Hariri headed the government that was forced to resign more than a year ago by the pressure of the street, who rose up against the entire political class and demanded his departure under the slogan “everyone means everyone.”
In a speech broadcast by some television stations from the presidential palace, Aoun addressed the deputies saying: “I hope you think carefully about the effects of the transfer on authorship and on the reform projects and international rescue initiatives, because the current deteriorating situation cannot continue after today, with accumulated and growing burdens on the shoulders of the citizens. “
He added: “Today I am required to commission and then participate in writing, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. Will the person responsible for commissioning and authorizing be obliged to address the sites of corruption and launch the reform workshop?”
The Aoun Free Patriotic Movement is opposed to naming Hariri. However, the majority of the deputies of the Sunni Hariri sect and other deputies announced that they would appoint him. Hezbollah did not announce its position, but political analysts say it is satisfied with its name, as evidenced by the announcement of its most prominent ally, the Amal Movement led by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, supporting Hariri to head the government.
On October 17, 2019, unprecedented popular demonstrations took place in Lebanon that lasted for months and led to the Hariri government to resign after approximately two weeks. In their “revolution,” the Lebanese blamed political officials who have ruled the country for decades for economic and livelihood deterioration due to rampant corruption, deals, neglect and exploitation of influence.
On January 15, 2020, a government of specialists headed by Hassan Diab took power for a period of seven months, but failed to launch any reform to control the political forces.
In August, French President Emmanuel Macron intervened to help resolve the crisis, visiting Lebanon for the first time and then a second time on September 1. The second visit culminated in the announcement of an initiative that said that all political forces had agreed and that it provided for the formation of a government that would undertake reforms according to a specific program, in exchange for financial assistance from the international community.
But the political forces failed to translate their promises and Ambassador Mustafa Adib, who was appointed to form the government, failed to form the government due to political divisions.
Following Adib’s apology, on September 27 Macron gave the political forces a new period of “four to six weeks” to form a government, accusing the political class of “collective treason.”
It seems clear that the return of Hariri to the head of the government is part of the French initiative.
Hariri recently announced that he is a candidate to head the government, within the parameters of the French initiative. He said he intends to form a government of specialists that, within six months, will put the reforms on the road to implementation.
Aoun accused political forces, without naming them, of obstructing reform efforts, the latest of which was the criminal audit of the Bank of Lebanon accounts. “When I carried out the project of change and reform in an attempt to save the homeland, those affected raised barricades in my face,” he said, adding, “The reform remained as a slogan that officials and politicians repeat while harboring the opposite.
Aoun is being subjected to a violent campaign by a wide range of Lebanese who placed him in the ranks of all defenseless politicians and those working for their own interests.
Some people demonstrated at night in downtown Beirut against the return of Hariri and expressed their rejection of the entire political class. Other Hariri supporters intercepted them, chanted in support of his name and warned protesters not to approach his residence, according to local media.
And the security and military forces worked to separate the two groups.
The people, who local media said were Hariri supporters, burned the “grip of the revolution,” a hologram in downtown Beirut that is a slogan of the popular protest movement. The Movement of the Future denied any involvement in the matter.
© 2020 AFP
