Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri has stepped into the premiership again after he won 64 votes in the binding parliamentary consultations held on Thursday.
Despite some of the main parliamentary blocs choosing not to name him, Hariri still earned enough votes to be designated by President Michel Aoun to form the next government.
For Hariri, the challenge ahead is enormous, as he has to form a government that can succeed in implementing reforms, gaining international trust, and rescuing Lebanon from its crisis — or, at least, beginning to do so.
At the same time, he will have to deal with the internal disagreements and bring forth a government lineup that conforms with the main parties’ conditions.
The PM-designate has vowed to work on the reforms required by the French initiative.
However, because his relationship with certain parties, most notably the Free Patriotic Movement, has been bitter, there will likely be large obstacles on his way actually forming a government.
It’s noteworthy that Hariri was the only candidate for the premiership that he secured today, just a week short of a year after he stepped down from the position under the pressure of protests in 2019.
Last week, the Lebanese marked the first anniversary of the October 17 uprising, where they reiterated their demands for change in the country’s political system, which they blame for the unbearable socio-economic conditions and the chaos that Lebanon has been in for the past year.
