Lebanon: Aoun asks Hariri to manage government

Lebanese President Michel Aoun asked on Wednesday resigning Prime Minister Saad Hariri to continue managing the government until a new one is formed.

This came the day after Prime Minister Hariri submitted his resignation to Baabda Presidential Palace, after two weeks of the protests’ outbreak in Lebanon, demanding the departure of the entire political class.

Under the provisions of article 69, paragraph 1, of the Lebanese Constitution, which stipulates that the government is considered to be resigned in the event of the resignation of its head, the Directorate General of the Presidency announced in a statement that the President of the Republic “requested the government to continue its activities pending the formation of a new one”.

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The statement added that the president thanked the resigning Prime Minister and all the ministers.

It is noteworthy that, after 13 days of an unprecedented popular movement, which paralyzed the country, Hariri announced the resignation of his government, yesterday, as a response to “the will of many Lebanese who took to the streets to demand change.”

Earlier last week, Hariri presented a paper on economic reforms in an attempt to absorb the anger of the street. However, the demonstrators considered such initiative as a late attempt to reconcile with them, which did not meet their ambitions, carrying on the protests.