On Thursday, Hariri told reporters that President Michel Aoun had not accepted his latest cabinet line-up less than 24 hours after the three-time prime minister submitted the proposal.

‘During the conversation we proposed that the president take more time to think about the proposal, and [Aoun] said that it looks like we’re not going to agree,’ Hariri told reporters following the 20-minute meeting.

Aoun demanded changes and amendments that I considered as unacceptable, Hariri said.

‘It is clear that we will not be able to agree with the president,’ Hariri says, despite the emergency of implementing a government alignment capable of lifting the country out of the economic and financial crisis.

Lebanon has not had an effective government since caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab stepped down in the wake of the August 2020 Beirut port explosion which killed over 200 people and injured thousands, as it approaches a total downfall due to the economic worsening caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

pgh/Pll/mem / arc