BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Monday set a date for parliamentary consultations to name a new prime minister to succeed Saad Hariri, who resigned on October 29 under pressure from popular protests.
The official news agency quoted the presidency that President Michel Aoun will receive representatives of parliamentary blocs Monday in Baabda Palace, separately.
Earlier in the day, former Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Fouad Siniora, and Tamam Salam issued a statement saying that "neglecting the binding parliamentary consultations to name the prime minister-designate, with a total denial of the people's demands for nearly 50 days, is a disregard for the demands of the Lebanese and ignoring their will by the president." Republic. "
The Presidency replied to the statement by stressing that Aoun's consultations "do not constitute a violation of the constitution, nor a violation of the Taif Agreement."
She added that if the former heads of government had realized the negative repercussions of the parliamentary consultations on the general situation and national unity, they would not have issued the statement and its fallacies, and they would have realized the correctness of the decision taken by President Aoun.
The Lebanese constitution requires the President of the Republic to conduct "binding parliamentary consultations" with all parliamentary blocs and independent deputies before naming any figure to form a government.
Lebanese businessman Samir al-Khatib has become the leading candidate for prime minister, especially after Saad Hariri announced Tuesday his support for him to head the next government.
A source familiar with the position of Shi'ite groups Hezbollah and Amal also said they would also nominate Khatib for the post, which usually goes to Sunni Muslims under Lebanon's sectarian quota system.
Protesters blocked a number of roads in Lebanese areas to protest Samir Khatib's candidacy for prime minister. In the northern Lebanese province of Akkar, protesters blocked a number of roads.
The activists had carried out a symbolic sit-in in front of the entrance to the port city of Tripoli in the north of the country demanding the fight against corruption.
A group of activists of the Popular Movement in the eastern city of Baalbek also staged a sit-in in front of the central bank building in the city, demanding financial and economic reforms.
The Lebanese army said it had arrested 16 people in Saadnayel, Bekaa, for blocking the international road, rioting and being exposed to military personnel.
Since Hariri's government resigned at the end of October, protesters have been demanding the formation of a technocratic government capable of dealing with the political and economic situation in a country suffering the worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Hezbollah rejects the formation of a technocratic government, and calls for the formation of a "techno-political" government combining specialists and politicians headed by Hariri, but the latter rejected that proposal.