Newly elected President Michel Aoun drinking a glass of water near Parliament Speaker Nabih Berry after being sworn in on Oct. 31, 2016. (Credit: Joseph Eid/AFP)
BEIRUT — Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called Monday on the Parliament to hold a session on Thursday at 11 a.m., in order to "read the President’s letter," regarding the resignation of Najib Mikati's caretaker cabinet.
On Sunday, Michel Aoun vacated the Baabda Presidential Palace on the eve of the end of his term in office, as a deadlock and presidential vacuum looms. No apparent consensus emerged among parliamentarians on who the next head of state will be, while the formation of a new government by Prime Minister-designate has stalled for months.
In this context, shortly before leaving office, Aoun signed a decree for the resignation of Mikati's caretaker cabinet and sent a letter to Berri to notify him of this procedure and ask the Parliament to take all necessary measures on this matter.
The present government has been considered resigned since the end of the previous legislature and the election of a new Parliament in May. With his latest move, the outgoing president has spoken out on the illegitimacy of Mikati's cabinet in the event of a vacuum in the presidency. Although this is constitutionally ambiguous. But he may also be seeking to signify a revocation of the appointment of Najib Mikati as premier-designate, which could open the door to scenarios of constitutional chaos.
The caretaker premier denied Sunday the legal basis of the letter, claiming that his government "will continue to carry out all its constitutional duties.”