Najib Mikati appointed Lebanon's PM-designate

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen Net
23 Jun 20:08

Lebanon MPs appoint Najib Mikati as Prime Minister-designate a month after the parliamentary elections.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati

Following his assignment, on Thursday, to form the next government, Prime Minister-designate, Najib Mikati confirmed the ability of the Lebanese to extricate the country from its crises, warning, at the same time, that "Lebanon is now faced with the challenge of either total collapse or gradual rescue.”

However, “Lebanon will not be left to die and will overcome the ongoing crisis, we will not allow for its collapse,” Mikati said.

In his speech, Mikati highlighted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) must be the main stepping stone to reach safety and rescue the nation from collapse, insisting that “without an agreement with it, no rescue opportunities will be available."

Moreover, Mikati noted that time has become an important factor in determining the future of the nation as "we no longer have the luxury of time to delay or drown in conditions and demands." The PM-designate added that a lot of opportunities for support have been offered from both brotherly and friendly countries, noting that all these opportunities have had one common requirement: Lebanon needs to make the decision to rescue itself first.

Al Mayadeen's correspondent confirmed earlier that Mikati won with 54 votes in the parliamentary consultations to form the next Lebanese government, against 25 votes for the diplomat, Nawaf Salam, one vote for the former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, one vote for Rawa'a Al-Hallab, and 46 votes against the nomination.

The correspondent added that the Lebanese President, Michel Aoun, summoned Mikati to assign him to form a government. A meeting was held, following the assignment, in Baabda, which included Mikati, Aoun, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Earlier this morning, President Aoun began parliamentary consultations to nominate a new PM, more than a month after the legislative elections. Typically, the President assigns the person who receives the most votes from the MPs.