Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Analysis- All Lebanon's Roads Lead to Hariri


Tue 13 Oct 2020 | 01:10 PM

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri officially started consultations to form a new government in Lebanon, despite the absence of an official mandate from the presidency so far.

Lebanon suffers from a stifling political and economic crisis. It is facing a crisis in providing enough foreign exchange to finance the import of petroleum products, medicine, wheat, and foodstuffs.

Nothing is clear until now in Lebanon.

However, it seems that Hariri decided to follow an inverted constitutional path. He did not wait for the parliamentary consultations that the President is undertaking to name the Prime Minister in charge.

His belief that he was the natural candidate for prime minister made him conduct authoring consultations before commissioning consultations.

It seems that Hariri is tired of the game of naming businessmen, assuming that the external circumstance and the internal moment are favorable to improve the terms of his negotiations to restore the position, amid the limited options.

Lebanon's political forces have no alternative to Hariri

As for the stance of President Michel Aoun towards Hariri. It is not hidden that Aoun considers that his experience with Hariri in power was not so good.

Analysis- All Lebanon's Roads Lead to Hariri

Hariri is not the preferred option for President Aoun at this stage, but at the same time, he will not be rejected by the president if he manages to get a majority supporting him in the consultations after a round of negotiations he will conduct with the political parties.

The step Hariri took entailed a great risk for him, as it either takes him to head the government again or to forcibly move away from any political role in the country.

But it is also true that everyone is in trouble and alternatives are no longer available.

Hariri's announcement of the start of negotiations to form his government is a step to save the French initiative and to make a breakthrough in the government scene.