by english.aawsat.com — Lebanese former Prime Ministers Najib Mikati, Fouad Siniora and Tammam Salam deplored President Michel Aoun’s behavior towards Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, accusing him of “distorting the constitution”. They instead underlined the need to form a government that enjoys the confidence of the Lebanese people. In a statement following a meeting held in the absence of Hariri, the former premiers expressed their regret over “the method adopted by His Excellency the President of the Republic, who is the head of state and a symbol of the nation’s unity, in addressing the Prime Minister-designate through a televised statement, while the agreed principles require direct communication between them, especially as the country is going through a fateful crisis.” The former premiers emphasized the “sense of high responsibility expressed by Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri… by countering repeated attempts to drag him into quarrels and media disputes, which could have destroyed the remaining credibility of the falling state.”

Calling on Aoun to abide by the constitution, they said that Article 53 pertaining to the powers of the President of the Republic to form the government, stipulates that the president “shall issue the decree forming the government in agreement with the prime minister.” “It did not say ‘form’, but rather ‘issue’,” they emphasized. The former premiers underlined that the task of formation was “entrusted, according to the second paragraph of Article 64, to the designated prime minister based on the confidence granted to him by the parliamentary majority…” In a televised speech on Wednesday, Aoun asked Hariri to form a new government immediately or make way for someone else. A meeting was held between the two top officials the following day, after which the premier-designate expressed a more positive tone, saying another meeting was scheduled for Monday and that he saw “an opportunity to be seized”.