Lebanese President Michel Aoun during a press briefing at Baabda Palace. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Parliamentary consultations will be held Thursday, June 23, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda to appoint a prime minister-designate who will be tasked with forming a new government, a source at the Presidential Palace confirmed to L’Orient Today.
Here’s what we know:
• A spokesperson for President Michel Aoun told L’Orient Today that the parliamentary consultations will be held Thursday, June 23, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• During the consultations, names will be proposed for the future prime minister-designate who will be tasked with forming the new cabinet. By convention, and not by legislation, the office of prime minister is always reserved for a Sunni Muslim.
• Despite analysts saying that caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is currently the most convenient option for the post, Mikati has expressed his reluctance, earlier this month, to head the future government, saying that he finds the task “difficult … because most of the political discourse revolves around who has a stronger backing than who.”
• The Lebanese constitution decrees that parliamentary consultations, an exclusive procedure, are to be held to choose a prime minister.