Beirut, December 12, 2022 (Xinhua) – Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced today (Monday) his agreement with the Patriarch of the Maronite Church, Cardinal Bechara Al-Rai, to hold a ministerial consultation session to understand the steps of the next stage.
This came in a statement made by Mikati to journalists after his meeting with the Patriarch at a time when the country is witnessing a political crisis due to the refusal of ministers of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement, loyal to former President Michel Aoun, to participate in the government session last Monday.
Mikati stated that Al-Rahi drew his attention to the fact that “it was necessary to hold a consultation before holding the last government session.”
He indicated that he and Al-Rahi agreed to “hold a consultation session with the ministers soon to reach an understanding on the steps that we will take in the next phase.”
Mikati stressed that his government “bears responsibility for a matter in which we have no decision other than managing the country’s affairs and ensuring the citizen’s comfort and issues as much as possible.”
“We support consultations between all parties to pass this difficult stage, and our decision is to manage the affairs of the citizen and the state,” he said.
Mikati indicated that he had assured Al-Rahi during the meeting that the last cabinet session was “constitutional” and that it was “not sectarian” and that “representation of all sects in the cabinet session was present,” pointing out that the caretaker government bears the responsibility of “running the country’s affairs.”
He stated that he sensed the patriarch’s “extreme keenness to have a president elected as soon as possible, which is the responsibility of Parliament.”
On December 5, the caretaker government held an extraordinary meeting, the first since the end of former President Michel Aoun’s term at the end of last October, in which it approved “urgent needs” in the presence of 17 ministers out of 24, despite the boycott of the Christian (Free Patriotic Movement) ministers led by the president. Former Michel Aoun from a “constitutional and charter standpoint”.
The ministers’ refusal and boycott of the cabinet meeting came amid a political and sectarian division over the legitimacy of its convening as a resigned government during the vacancy of the president’s position.
The disagreements of the political forces in the country prevented the formation of a new government headed by Mikati, after Parliament had assigned him to do so last June, following the resignation of his government shortly after the parliamentary elections last May.
The disagreements of the political forces also prevented the election of a new president for the country to succeed former President Michel Aoun, despite the parliament holding 9 sessions for this purpose between the end of last September and the 8th of this December.
Lebanon had witnessed a presidential vacancy in previous times, but it is the first time that it has witnessed a presidential vacancy under a caretaker government, noting that the constitution stipulates that in the event of a presidential vacancy, the cabinet collectively assumes the powers of the president.
Since 2019, Lebanon has been suffering from constant tensions amid political, economic, financial, health and living crises, which are the worst in its history.