Still no breakthrough on the government front as Prime Minister Najib Mikati went to the president of the chamber to convince him of a resumption of the presence of Shiite ministers in his Mikati III cabinet. The Prime Minister gave no comment at the end of the meeting as protests cut the main axes of the country and the capital in the face of the continued deterioration of the social and economic conditions of the country and that of the parity of the Lebanese pound against the dollar.
Nabih Berri would still demand from the government the withdrawal of judge Tarek Bitar from the case of the explosion in the port of Beirut after he indicted two of his relatives. As a reminder, the judge had also published an arrest warrant against his right-hand man Ali Hassan Khalil after he refrained from appearing before him. A compromise proposed by the president of the chamber would consist of the presence of the free patriotic current in parliament to vote for the relinquishment of the judge in favor of the high court of justice in charge of judging the former and current presidents of the republic, prime ministers and ministers .
The parity rate seems today to stabilize around 25,000 LL / USD, a sharp increase expected due to the pressure on the local currency generated by the lifting of subsidies from the Bank of Lebanon which had channeled them until then.
A new call to demonstrate this Wednesday is currently circulating, even if the current mobilization remains far from that of October 2019 after the departure of many young people and also the demotivation of a large part of the population facing current difficulties. As a reminder, 82% of the population is now living below the poverty line, a record figure while the absence of a functioning government could delay negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and the implementation of essential reforms. demanded by the international community.
The Prime Minister also attended a meeting in the grand seraglio devoted to the financial situation with the Minister of Finance Youssef Khalil and the Governor of the Banque du Liban Riad Salamé.
On the political level too, the head of state ruled out staying in the presidential palace except in the event of an extension of his mandate by the parliament, thus opening the way to negotiations with the president of the chamber.
