After the return this Sunday of Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri and his meeting with the Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a new scenario is being discussed on Tuesday. Thus, Saad Hariri should go to the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, this Friday, to give him the same government formula that he had already presented, a formula already refused by the Presidency of the Republic on the pretext that it did not respond to the Lebanese constitution or to the national pact.
This would consist of 24 ministries in accordance with the initiative of Speaker of the House Nabih Berri, granting one third to the Christian community, one third to the Shiite community and one third to the Sunni community, therefore contradicting the National Pact stipulating a equal distribution between Christian and Muslim communities.
This proposal would also not meet the requirement of the presidency of the republic to have the ministries of the interior and of justice, 2 key ministries in the files related to the fight against corruption and the port of Beirut with certain relatives. Saad Hariri as the former Minister of the Interior, Nouhad Machnouk, the governor of the Banque du Liban Riad Salamé or the former director of the port of Beirut, Hassan Koreitem in the viewfinder of justice as well as the right-hand man the president of the chamber, the former finance minister, Ali Hassan Khalil and another member of the Amal Ghazi Zoater movement.
In the event of a new refusal by the President of the Republic, Saad Hariri could announce the withdrawal of his candidacy, allowing the de facto organization of new parliamentary consultations to appoint a new prime minister, 11 months after the resignation of the Hassan Diab government in the wake of the explosion of the Port of Beirut and as the social and economic situation continues to deteriorate with a Lebanese pound which has lost 90% of its value on the black market compared to the official rate, and the protests that could occur . As a reminder, nearly 77% of the Lebanese population no longer have enough to eat as well as more than 30% of children, according to a UNICEF report. As for unemployment, it would affect 43% of the working population and more than 65% of the population would now have only 3 dollars a day.
For the time being, a return of the Lebanese ambassador to Germany Mustafa Adib would be considered. The latter declared himself ready to take up the torch under certain conditions, notes the daily Al Akhbar, among which, that of a prior agreement between the political parties on the subject of the distribution of the next ministerial folding seats.
The appointment of a new government is however necessary to obtain crucial international aid which is conditional on a series of economic, monetary and structural reforms that some fear in Lebanon, especially in the banking sector.
