The 3 former prime ministers Nagib Mikati, Fouad Saniora and Tamam Salam have stepped up to the defense of Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri, following the sending by the Presidency of the Republic of a letter to parliament accusing the latter of being at the origin of the delay in the process of forming a next government.
According to the statement released by the 3 men, they believe that Saad Hariri acted in accordance with the Lebanese constitution, with parliamentary consultations with all the blocs present in the chamber. He would thus have submitted, “without delay” the statement specifies, a proposal for a government formula for which he received no response from the President of the Republic. They also accuse Baabda of wishing to establish a blocking third party within the next cabinet, “standards contrary” to the constitution according to them and refuted by the presidency.
Also, according to the 3 former tenants of the Grand Serail, if article 10 of article 53 of the Constitution gives the President of the Republic the right to send messages to the House of Representatives on general national questions, this ci cannot appeal to the chamber concerning the formation of the government due to the separation of powers.
Still according to the constitution, the 3 former prime ministers note that article 64 stipulates that it is up to the designated prime minister to propose to the President of the Republic the governmental formula which publishes, in agreement with him, the decree of his formation.
According to them, Saad Hariri would have followed these procedures but would have also been “each time confronted with obstacles and demands which deviate from the constitution and tend to include those who have no interest in the question of the formation of the government. , to give it a role contrary to the provisions of the constitution. “
It would be, according to them, to place the Prime Minister, in subordination to the President of the Republic, which would undermine the Lebanese constitution and the separation of powers.
They believe that the letter to parliament constitutes “a real coup against the constitution, and these are the same practices that have hampered the implementation of the provisions of the constitution, also delayed the formation of the government and put the country on the brink of collapse.
A country without a government as the economic crisis hits it hard
Lebanon has been without government since the resignation, on August 10, of outgoing Prime Minister Hassan Diab.
The formation of a new government is considered as one of the preconditions for the relaunch of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund in order to obtain the release of financial aid from the international community in the face of the economic crisis that Lebanon is going through.
Following Mustafa Adib’s failure to form a cabinet, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who resigned following major protests in October 2019, was tasked with forming a new government in October 2020.
In an attempt to unblock the situation, the former prime minister promised the Amal movement to allocate the portfolio of the finance ministry to a member of the Shiite community. He also reiterated that Lebanon could do without a state of default, thus denying the gravity of the economic crisis however experienced by the population, with 55% of it now living below the poverty line while the economic recession has reached 29% according to some reports for the year 2020.
However, Saad Hariri’s proposals for an 18-member cabinet clash with the Presidency of the Republic, who points out that if the Shiite and Sunni communities choose their representatives, the Christian representatives in the new cabinet would also be chosen by the former. designated minister. General Aoun de facto considers that the current proposals of the Prime Minister contravene both the Lebanese constitution and the national pact.
The latter, for his part, accuses the head of state of wanting to obtain a blocking third party within his new cabinet.
