Lebanese president appoints Saad Hariri to form a new government

Beirut: On Thursday, Lebanese President Michel Aoun assigned the leader of the Future Movement, Saad Hariri, to form the new government, a difficult task amid sharp political divisions and street resentment against the ruling class.

Should Hariri, whose government resigned about a year ago due to popular protests, succeeds in forming the next government, it will be the fourth time he has presided over the Council of Ministers since 2009.

Hariri’s appointment comes at a time when Lebanon is witnessing an economic collapse and the international community, especially France, expects officials to undertake the necessary reforms that they have failed to achieve so far, as a condition of providing financial support. necessary to the country.

And the Lebanese presidency announced in a statement that Aoun, after binding parliamentary consultations, summoned “Hariri to appoint him to form the government.”

Following his meeting with Aoun at the Baabda Presidential Palace near Beirut, Hariri announced, in a short speech to journalists, that he would form a government comprised of “nonpartisan specialists whose task is to implement the economic, financial and administrative reforms contained in the French initiative document, which the main blocks of Parliament promised to support the government in its implementation “. “.

“I will focus on forming a quick government, because time is running out and the opportunity for our country is the only and the last,” he said.

Hariri announced his candidacy this month within the principles of the French initiative launched by President Emmanuel Macron to lift Lebanon out of its crisis.

Hariri obtained 65 votes, while 53 deputies refused to give his name. The House of Representatives is made up of 128 members, but there are eight resigned deputies who did not participate in the consultations.

On Friday, Hariri begins creating consultations by meeting with parliamentary blocs in Parliament. These consultations often precede difficult informal negotiations between political parties.

The Free Patriotic Movement led by Aoun, Hariri, as a result of the marked political differences between Hariri and the movement’s leader, Gebran Bassil, did not name Aoun’s son-in-law.

Hezbollah did not name him either, but the analyzes unanimously coincided in the party’s tacit approval of Hariri’s return, who had the support of the majority of the representatives of the Sunni community to which he belongs, the bloc of the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and the bloc of the Amal Movement, an ally of Hezbollah, led by the Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri.

The United Nations special coordinator in Lebanon, Jan Kubic, said in tweets on “Twitter” that “traditional political forces have once again taken responsibility for moving forward, regardless of their many failures in the past and their deep doubts about the future”. “Now it is up to these forces to help … Hariri form an effective government to begin implementing known reforms,” ​​he said.

He said: “Do not expect miracles from abroad … The rescue must begin in Lebanon.”

For his part, the United States Undersecretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, David Schenker, highlighted, in an interview with journalists, “the need for any new government to implement reforms, adopt transparency and fight corruption”, and highlighted that his country will continue to impose sanctions on “Hezbollah and its Lebanese allies” and those involved in “corruption.” And “regardless of the formation of the government.”

The European Union also highlighted, in a statement from its spokesperson, the need to implement “urgent” political and economic reforms and “accelerate” the formation of the government, without commenting on Hariri’s nomination.

There was no immediate reaction on the street. The protesters generally repeat their calls for the entire political class to leave.

Immediately after his assignment, Hariri supporters fired jubilantly in the northern city of Tripoli. As a result of the stray bullets, three people were injured, including an elderly man, according to a city medical source and AFP.

The last Hariri government resigned on October 29, 2019, almost two weeks after unprecedented popular protests against the political class that has ruled the country for decades and is responsible for the economic and vital deterioration caused by widespread corruption, neglect and the abuse of influence.

Hassan Diab formed a government of specialists at the beginning of the year that took power for seven months, but failed to launch any reform for control of political forces, before he resigned after the terrible port explosion that occurred on August 4.

The French president visited Beirut to help resolve the crisis. He then returned again in early September and announced an initiative that said all political forces had agreed, and stipulated the formation of a government within two weeks that would undertake reform according to a specific program, in exchange for financial assistance from the international community.

But the political forces failed to translate their promises. Ambassador Mustafa Adeeb was unable to form a government.

On September 27, Macron gave the political forces a new deadline of “four to six weeks” to form a government and accused them of “collective treason.”

And French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned on Wednesday that “if Lebanon does not implement the required reforms, the country itself is in danger of collapse.” Odeh criticized “the old tendencies and the quotas according to affiliations, according to sects.”

Today, Hariri addressed in his speech to “Lebanese who are struggling to the point of despair”, saying: “I am determined to fulfill the promise I made to you to work to stop the collapse that threatens our economy, our society and our safety, and to rebuild what was destroyed by the terrible port explosion in Beirut. “

Hariri’s name does not mean that his task is easy.

For a year, Lebanon has been experiencing successive crises, from an accelerated economic collapse that exacerbated poverty rates, to heavy banking restrictions, the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic and, finally, the explosion of the port, which left more than two hundred people dead and 6,500 injured.