Lebanese president names Saad Hariri as PM

By Wassim Seifeddine

BEIRUT

Newly-elected Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Thursday officially tasked Saad Hariri, a former Prime Minister and leader of Lebanon’s Future Movement, to form the country’s next government after the latter won the support of a majority of MPs.

"President Aoun has officially asked Saad Hariri to draw up a government," Antoine Shakir, director-general of the Lebanese presidency, declared at a press conference held at Beirut’s Baabda Presidential Palace.

The announcement came after Hariri managed to win the support of 110 out of 127 lawmakers who attended a Thursday parliamentary session.

In an acceptance speech delivered in Beirut, Hariri said he was looking forward to working with all of Lebanon’s political forces, "including those that did not support my nomination".

"I hope to put an end to the suffering of the nation and its people, who have just gone through two and a half years of paralysis and inertia," he said.

He went on to vow to form a government "that will work quickly to complete an electoral law and oversee the holding of parliamentary polls on schedule".

"I’m looking forward to holding consultations for the formation of a national unity government that transcends [sectarian] divisions," the new PM asserted.

Members of the new government, he went on, would work together to address what he described as the "political, security, economic and environmental crises" plaguing the country.

During Wednesday parliamentary consultations, the Hezbollah parliamentary bloc (13 MPs), the Syrian Social Nationalist Party bloc (two MPs) and the Baath Arab Socialist Party in Lebanon (two MPs) all declined to endorse Hariri for the premiership.

Following a Thursday meeting with Aoun, however, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced at a press conference that the Liberation and Development parliamentary bloc (13 MPs) had thrown its support behind the former PM, saying, "If there was no willingness to cooperate, we wouldn’t have backed him".

On Monday, parliament elected Aoun as Lebanon’s 13th president, ending a presidential vacuum that had lasted more than two and a half years.