While awaiting the completion of the legislative process in the session called by Speaker Nabih Berri next Tuesday to elect parliamentary committees and their rapporteurs, it is anticipated that President Michel Aoun will set a date for the mandatory parliamentary consultations to name the president tasked with forming the government. However, there are concerns that the process of appointment and formation may follow the same political twists that delayed the establishment of previous governments. In this context, parliamentary sources revealed that talks are taking place among several blocs to agree on a figure who would have the consensus of the MPs. The sources noted that former Prime Minister Najib Mikati might be the most likely candidate to form the government at this stage, but there are substantial obstacles, most notably the announcement by Gibran Bassil, the head of the Strong Lebanon bloc, that he does not approve of naming Mikati and is inclined to nominate another candidate, possibly Jowad Adra. Moreover, the reformist MPs are also not inclined to nominate Mikati, nor are the independent MPs whose positions remain unclear. This means that the issue of forming the government is far from straightforward.
Regarding whether there is a constitutional text that defines a timeframe for forming the government, lawyer Paul Merkas, head of the "Justice" rights foundation, clarified in a call with Al-Anbaa that there is no timeframe in the constitution except for the President's call for mandatory parliamentary consultations, considering that the silence of the text does not mean there is no timeframe in administrative and constitutional jurisprudence, which is referred to as a reasonable timeframe, measured in our deteriorating case in hours rather than days. He pointed out that the only timeframe stipulated in this regard is that the new government must present its ministerial statement within thirty days. Merkas stated, "Until the election of the Speaker of Parliament and the Deputy Speaker, we have wasted 10 days which have also resulted in delays for the government formation, and we are still wasting time while Lebanon is in the operating room awaiting the doctor."
