President Joseph Aoun announced on Friday that the binding parliamentary consultations to designate a new PM will be held on Monday.
President Aoun will reportedly meet with the parliamentary blocs and independent MPs starting at 8:00 am on Monday
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea , who heads up the largest Christian parliamentary bloc said that he supports the designation of MP Ashraf Rifi or MP Fouad Makhzoumi for the post.
Aoun who was elected Thursday as the new president was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose assistance Lebanon will need as it seeks to rebuild after the devastating war that left southern Lebanon and the southern Beirut suburb of Dhahieh in ruins.
The next government will face daunting challenges in seeking funds for reconstruction and rebuilding the institutions , including the army, since it will be the only entity that will be allowed to be armed.
Lebanon is in its sixth year of an economic and financial crisis that collapsed the country’s currency and prevented the Lebanese from accessing their lifetime savings .
Lebanon has faced crisis after crisis in recent years, including a refugee crisis from the Syrian civil war, the Beirut port blast in 2020, a Covid 19 outbreak, and an economic crisis that has resulted in very high inflation, skyrocketing poverty and the collapse of essential public services. Power shortage has been one of the major problems in Lebanon despite tens of billions of dollars in subsidies of the electricity company .
By far the biggest problem in Lebanon is corruption.
The country’s leaders reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF for a bail-out package in 2022 but have made little progress on the reforms required to clinch the deal.
According to analysts , the fact that Lebanon is now outside Iran’s Axis of Resistance is a step in the right direction because the Arab Gulf states and the West will now be able to help rebuild Lebanon.
Since 1990 Lebanon’s presidents were picked by the Syrian regimes and Iran’s proxy Hezbollah . This is the first time in 45 years that the Lebanese were being allowed to pick a president that they respect and look up to.
Outgoing caretaker PM Najib Mikati reportedly expressed interest in the position but the opposition which is now the majority will unlikely support him, according to analysts.
Commenting on Mikati’s expression of interest in the post , MP Ashraf Rifi ( who is one of the PM candidates being considered )said in an interview with LBCI that ” Mikati is closer to the Shiite duo of Amal and Hezbollah and not to the opposition, and I say to Mikati, go back to your hometown and your family and correct the path and extend your hand to your city.”
Both Rifi and Mikati hail from Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city .
According to analysts MP Fouad Makhzoumi appears to be the front runner at this stage. The highly respected former UN ambassador Nawaf Salam, was mentioned as a possible candidate before he was elected last year as the President of the International Court of Justice,