Lebanon .. Aoun denies his adherence to the "guarantor third" and repudiates responsibility for the delay in forming a government

Lebanese President Michel Aoun affirmed that he does not want the guarantor third in the government, and called for not to be accused of obstructing the formation of the government, "to obscure misleading goals," while Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati accused unnamed parties of turning the formation process into a "political and media bazaar."

A statement by the Presidency of the Republic on Thursday afternoon said that President Aoun "has declared more than once that he does not want the guarantor third, in his belief that the difficult circumstances that Lebanon and the Lebanese people are going through make it imperative for everyone to rise to the highest levels of responsibility in order to take the initiative and speed up saving the country and the people."

The statement accused officials - whom he did not name - of having recently given, and at an ascending pace, incorrect analyzes to attribute the reason for the delay in forming the government to Aoun's desire to obtain the guarantor third in the government, considering these accusations as coming to obscure misleading goals.

And the “guarantor third” or “blocking” means that a political party or current obtains a third of the number of ministerial portfolios in the government, which allows it to control its decisions and disrupt the holding of its meetings.

For his part, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati expressed - in a statement - his keenness to "approach the process of forming a government according to the well-known constitutional rule, and in accordance with the requirements of the difficult stage that Lebanon is going through."

Mikati said, "It seems that some are insisting on turning the government formation process into a political and media bazaar open to various leaks, gossip and lies, in a clear attempt to keep the accusation of obstruction from it and attach it to others."

The statement explained that Mikati is holding various meetings to form a government, and he has not committed to any final order with anyone until the final version of the government is produced, stressing that everything that is said to the contrary is completely false, as he put it.

On July 26, Aoun assigned Mikati to form the new government after parliamentary consultations, and their meetings have not yet resulted in announcing its formation, despite spreading a positive atmosphere about the possibility of issuing the formation soon.