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PoliticsMiddle East

Lebanon's Hariri blames president for deadlock

Farah Bahgat
May 22, 2021

Amid political and economic crises, Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri says he will not form a Cabinet simply catering to the president's wishes.

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Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri
Like his assassinated father, Hariri has headed several previous governmentsImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/L. van Putten

Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Saturday accused President Michel Aoun of "preventing the formation of the government."

Hariri was speaking to parliament as lawmakers convened to discuss a letter where Aoun had said the PM-designate was incapable of forming a cabinet.

"For seven months, we have given the [prime minister]-designate an impossible task: Either the government is formed as the president's political team wants it, impersonating the will of his excellency and claiming that he has no demands, or there is no government," Hariri said.

"I will not form a government as the team of his excellency the president wants it, nor any other political faction. I will only form the kind of government needed to stop collapse and prevent the big crash that is threatening the Lebanese," Hariri told lawmakers.

What is the rift between Hariri and Aoun?

Hariri, a veteran Lebanese politician, was tasked with forming a new government in October. Talks on the formation of a new Cabinet have repeatedly broken down since.

In March, Hariri stormed out of a short meeting with Aoun and told reporters that the president sent him a proposed list of ministers, asking him to sign off on the names.

Hariri said he rejected that request as unconstitutional and returned the list.

Hariri has sought to form a government of technocrats, or non-partisan specialists. But Aoun, according to Hariri, was pushing for a third of all cabinet seats for his allies, which would give them veto power over government decisions.

However, Aoun's office denied Hariri's claims.

What is the situation in Lebanon?

Since resigning after a massive explosion in a portside warehouse tore through Beirut in August, the existing Cabinet has been acting as a caretaker government.

The blast has complicated the task of rescuing the country's economy as Lebanon faces its worst economic crisis since its 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.

The political deadlock has further piled pressure on the country's economy. 

According to Reuters news agency, Aoun said in his letter to parliament that it was clear that Hariri was "unable to form a government capable of salvation and meaningful contact with foreign financial institutions, international funds and donor countries."

Western and other donors, led by the former colonial power France, have said the country needed to form a viable technocratic Cabinet before they release aid funds.

Lebanon has also seen rising tensions with Gulf states, who are frustrated over the growing influence of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group backed by their rival Iran.