The Lebanese Presidency said on Saturday that President Michel Aoun is to set a date for holding the consultations with parliamentary blocs in a bid to designate a new prime minister.

In a statement the Presidency Press Office clarified that President Aoun has been, since the resignation of PM Saad Hariri, conducting the necessary talks that precede the date of binding parliamentary consultations.

These contacts are necessary, as the current situation in the country requires a calm handling of the government issue leading to the resolution of some obstacles, so that the commissioning of a new Prime Minister, and later the cabinet formation, would occur smoothly, National News Agency quoted the Lebanese Presidency Press Office as saying.

“The President believes that the great challenges facing the future government impose a quick but not hasty approach to the commissioning process, because urgency in such cases can have harmful repercussions,” the statement emphasized.

Hariri offered his resignation earlier this week after twelve days of protests that swept across the country. Demonstrators took to streets on October 17 in protests against imposing new taxes, hard livelihood conditions and corruption.

However, the demonstrations which had livelihood demands at first turned out to become suspicious as demonstrators in several protests venues chanted anti-resistance slogans and called to disarm Hezbollah.

At the start of the protests, Hezbollah Secretary General voiced solidarity with demonstrations stressing on need to make reforms in the country. However, his eminence warned the protesters against hijacking their rightful demands by several sides in and outside Lebanon.

Week later (on Friday, October 25), Sayyed Nasrallah called on resistance supporters to leave streets, citing information that the popular demonstrations have been exploited by suspicious local and foreign sides in a bid to target the resistance.

Source: Agencies