Mikati promises to form a Lebanese government as soon as possible

Najib Mikati.

Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati promised to form a new government as soon as possible in a country witnessing an unprecedented economic collapse, at the conclusion of a long day of consultations with parliamentary blocs.

After a year in which two attempts to form a government failed due to sharp political differences, Lebanese President Michel Aoun yesterday tasked 65-year-old Mikati with forming a government.

The name of Mikati, a wealthy businessman who headed two governments in the past, is often put forward as a compromise candidate to break the deadlock resulting from political differences in the country.

Today, Aoun has become the third person assigned to form a government after the resignation of Hassan Diab's government following the horrific explosion of the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, which killed more than two hundred people and injured more than 6,500.

International pressures on the political class, which France has exercised in particular, have not succeeded since the explosion in accelerating the birth of a government that the international community requires that it include specialists and accept radical reforms in return for providing financial support to Lebanon.

At the conclusion of the consultations day, Mikati confirmed that he wanted to intensify his meetings with the President of the Republic so that the government would be formed as soon as possible.

He added, "There was unanimity from all the blocs and representatives on the need to expedite the process of forming the new government, especially in these difficult circumstances, to achieve a decent life for citizens and to obtain electricity, fuel, medicine and a loaf of bread."

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