Fri 10 September 2021:
In the presence of parliament speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and President Michel Aoun signed a decree constituting a new cabinet on Friday, according to the presidency.
Lebanon had been without a government for nearly a year as its economy continued to deteriorate.
The presidency said on Twitter earlier that Mikati would meet Aoun, but without saying if they had reached an agreement on a government.
Lebanon has been left without an effective government as a result of the failure to agree on a cabinet, and the country has slid deeper into a crisis that the World Bank has called as one of the worst implosions of recent times.
Mikati, a politician-businessman who was named Prime Minister in July, has previously stated that once his cabinet is established, he will seek to restart negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Disagreements among political factions over the distribution of cabinet members have often hampered the formation of the cabinet.
Mikati is the third prime minister-designate to try to build a government since the previous one quit over a year ago in the wake of the Beirut port blast and the country’s deepening economic crisis.
After former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri abandoned his efforts, Mikati was named.
Political opponents accuse Aoun and his party, the Free Patriotic Movement, of attempting to gain effective veto power in the new cabinet by requesting a third of the seats. Aoun has frequently denied this.
(Input with agencies)
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