The Lebanese prime minister evaluates his support with the convening of a council of ministers for Monday

MADRID, 3 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The outgoing prime minister of Lebanon, Nayib Mikati, has convened an extraordinary council of ministers for Monday to discover how much support he has within Lebanese politics after being officially delegitimized by former president Michel Aoun, who left office on October 30 and to this day he still has no substitute.

In his final speech, Aoun confirmed the delivery to Parliament of a letter that formalized the resignation of the outgoing Council of Ministers of Mikati, who has continued to exercise despite having resigned since the end of the previous legislature, with the election in May of a new Parliament. However, the letter was a rather blunt attack on Mikati's current role.

Now, Mikati has been in contact "with each and every one of his ministers to find out his will", according to sources close to the newspaper 'L'Orient-Le Jour' for a meeting that needs the implicit approval of Hezbollah, whose ministers, Ali Hamiyé and Mustafa Bayram, should be present in principle.

The Free Patriotic Movement of Michel Aoun, as expected, has repudiated the call. "Our position is clear: we reject the normalization of the functioning of the institutions in the absence of a President of the Republic and in the presence of a government that does not have the confidence of Parliament", indicated the deputy Alain Aoun.

According to the Lebanese media, ministers close to the former president, such as Hector Hajjar, Minister of Social Affairs, or Georges Bouchikian, Minister of Industry, have not yet made a final decision.

All this occurs two days after the failure of the eighth vote to choose Aoun's successor and awaiting a ninth attempt next Thursday. In this new vote, the deputy Michel Muauad obtained 37 votes in favor, while two ballots went to the former minister Ziad Barud and four to the historian Isam Khalifé. Likewise, 52 parliamentarians voted blank. In the first round, the president must be elected with 86 votes, while in successive rounds an absolute majority of 65 votes is required.

Lebanon, it should be remembered, has been trapped for several years in a deep and prolonged political, economic and social crisis that has caused more than 70 percent of the population to live below the poverty line and a banking system that has been paralyzed since October 2019.