Aoun reveals efforts to fill governmental vacancy in Lebanon

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
21 Sep 2022 00:03

Lebanese President Michel Aoun confirms his quest to form a government before leaving the presidential palace next month.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun

Lebanese President Michel Aoun announced, Tuesday, that he is working to form a fully-functional government to take over the duties of the President of the Republic if his position becomes vacant after the end of his presidential term on October 31.

According to a statement issued by the Lebanese presidential office, posted on Twitter, Aoun said during a meeting with the European Union ambassadors to Lebanon, "I am working to form a government with full powers that will assume the powers of the president in the event of a presidential vacancy," adding that "Lebanon needs political and sovereign reform and structural changes in its system."

الرئيس عون مستقبلا سفراء الاتحاد الأوروبي: اعمل لتشكيل حكومة كاملة الصلاحيات تتولى صلاحيات الرئيس في حال الشغور الرئاسي pic.twitter.com/nYx6Qb7tJc
— Lebanese Presidency (@LBpresidency) September 20, 2022

On September 6, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement in Lebanon, Gebran Bassil, announced that the movement would not recognize the legitimacy of the caretaker government headed by Najib Mikati, after the end of President Aoun's term.

Bassil said during a press conference, "We will not recognize the legitimacy of the resigned government after the end of the term of the president of the republic and we will consider the government a usurper of authority... even if the whole world gathers to support it against us."

On the first of September, Lebanon entered the constitutional deadline to elect a new president for the republic, without a "confrontational candidate" or a "consensual candidate" and in the absence of a new Lebanese government.