President Michel Aoun has unceasingly exerted “media pressure” on Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, who stressed that he was aware on what the Constitution stipulates with regard to the government formation process.
“Hariri won’t quit the premiership,” sources close to the PM-designate told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Aoun said Monday that Hariri had spent enough time listening to the demands of political parties and therefore, he should now take the initiative to form the government. “We are waiting for him,” the president said.
"Political and sectarian diversity creates problems when it comes to government formation. We listen to the demands of political parties and we aim to reach an agreement that would result in cabinet formation," Aoun added.
In return, Hariri’s sources said the PM-designate deals with the deadlock through three principles, including his determination to form a national unity cabinet capable of protecting the investment program he is working to achieve and which was agreed on during the CEDER conference in April.
“Hariri knows what the Constitution stipulates in regard to the cabinet formation and his powers, and therefore, the PM would not engage in disputes with any side,” the sources said.
They added that Hariri wants the government line-up to include representatives from the country’s six largest parliamentary blocs.
The president believes that Hariri is “confused” in handling the issue of the cabinet formation, Aoun’s visitors told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday.
They said the president was not interfering in Hariri’s mission, but he had asked the PM-designate to adopt unified norms in the cabinet formation and not to keep any party outside the process.
Speaker Nabih Berri also weighed in on the deadlock on Monday.
“This situation cannot go on in this manner,” Berri told reporters at his Ain al-Tineh residence.
