BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun is making the necessary contacts ahead of a parliamentary consultation to name a new prime minister, Lebanese presidential sources said on Wednesday, while Lebanese sources talked about expectations on the shape of the next government and its president.
In a statement issued on Saturday evening, the presidency said that the current situation requires a calm handling of the government file, leading to the resolution of some of the contract to facilitate the formation of the government.
Lebanese sources expected on Saturday that the next government will be miniature, noting that Saad Hariri remains the most likely name undisputed to reassign him to form a government.
The newspaper "An-Nahar" in today's issue that the information available from Baabda Palace yesterday on the consultations to form a government, according to that if not identified next Monday, Tuesday at the latest, but information was available later likely to call for consultations today to be held Monday for one day .
According to the newspaper, the accompanying sources pointed out that the contacts conducted by President Michel Aoun are continuing and it is clear that the composition and assignment go in parallel, and if it was agreed on the type of government, ie, be political, technocrats or technocratic, he would have set the date for parliamentary consultations.
It considered that delaying the date of consultations did not constitute a gap, and that it would be better to delay the call for commissioning consultancy days, provided that commissioning and authoring be delayed by months due to past experience in the formation of Governments.
She noted that if a technocrat government had been agreed, it would be clear who would be its president, expecting the next government to be miniature, noting that the final number of ministers had not been agreed.
Hariri is the favorite
Although the name of Saad Hariri remains the most likely and undisputed to re-assign him to form a government - according to the newspaper - the data on his mandate still indicate significant complications, in terms of the form of government and the nature of the priorities that will be taken after the earthquake, the ongoing popular uprising, and the program that It will adhere to it, reflecting the fact that secret consultations are under way in anticipation of the mandate, given the political cracks caused by the resignation of Hariri and his government.
In the same context, supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement organized a demonstration tomorrow near the presidential palace in support of President Michel Aoun, while calling on the popular movement groups to continue their movements against the ruling political class.
Open the banks
Meanwhile, Central Bank of Lebanon Governor Riad Salameh said on Saturday that the reopening of banks after two weeks of closure over protests "has not caused any problems in any bank" and that "no formal restrictions on capital" are being considered.
"This is important given the length of the closure and the events in our country," Salameh told Reuters in written comments.