Lebanese PM-designate Mustapha Adib said on Monday he had met President Michel Aoun for more consultations, raising doubts that he could form his cabinet by a deadline agreed with France.
"God willing, all will be well," Adib told reporters following his meeting with Aoun at Baabda Palace.
Lebanese politicians promised French President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to Beirut on Sept. 1 to form a government in two weeks, part of a roadmap drawn up by Paris to start reforms.
An official source had previously said the prime minister-designate would present plans for his cabinet on Monday. But on Sunday Speaker Nabih Berri voiced objection to the way Adib was putting together a cabinet, undermining prospects for his government of technocrats to win support across the sectarian divide.
Some worry that even outside pressure cannot force reform on politicians, for whom reform means an end to power and perhaps eventual accountability.
Lebanon’s ruling class, in power since the end of the civil war in 1990, has run the tiny country and its population into the ground. Heading a sectarian system that encourages corruption over governing, the elite have enriched themselves while investing little on infrastructure, failing to build a productive economy and pushing it to the verge of bankruptcy.
Anger over corruption and mismanagement has come to a peak after the giant Aug. 4 explosion at Beirut’s port, caused by the detonation of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate that politicians allowed to sit there for years. Nearly 200 people were killed and tens of thousands of homes were damaged.
