Politics

Hariri renamed as prime minister of crisis-hit Lebanon

Beirut, Oct 22 (efe-epa).- Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has been named premier after President Michel Aoun held consultations with the various parliamentary blocs, the presidency said Thursday.

Hariri resigned last year on 29 October, bowing to the demand of unprecedented mass anti-government protests.

“President Aoun summoned Prime Minister Saad Hariri to task him with forming a new government,” the presidency posted on Twitter.

The presidency said that shortly after the announcement was made, Hariri met with Aoun and parliament speaker Nabih Berri at the Baabda Palace, where he is expected to deliver a speech to the nation.

Hariri, who will be on his fourth term as premier, received 64 votes, the amount needed to form a new cabinet, from the 128-seat parliament.

The 50-year-old now becomes the third premier to be appointed within the past year, after Mustafa Adib that stepped down on 26 September, citing political infighting, and Hassan Diab, who resigned in the wake of the massive explosion at Beirut’s port on 4 August.

The Beirut blast left more than 200 people dead, wounded 6,500 others and made another 300,000 homeless.

The demonstrations, which broke out 17 October last year and lasted for months, called for an independent cabinet of technocrats to end widespread corruption and the embezzlement of public funds.

But the anti-government protests, which saw clashes with Lebanese security forces, further damaged the economy, already in its worst turmoil since the end of Lebanon’s 15-year civil war in 1990.

In the multi-religious state, the president should be a Christian Maronite, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliamentary speaker a Shiite Muslim.EFE-EPA

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