President Michel Aoun on Tuesday received a phone call from Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, who requested that a meeting between them be postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday, state-run National News Agency reported.
Al-Jadeed TV meanwhile reported that Hariri requested the postponement due to an “urgent appointment.”
The PM-designate “did not specify a time, which means that the meeting will take place following Hariri’s return from Cairo,” al-Jadeed added.
Annahar newspaper had reported that Hariri would visit the Baabda Palace on Tuesday to submit a 24-minister cabinet line-up in line with Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiative,
The daily added that the line-up would comprise “independents and specialists.”
“After his visit to Baabda today and his meeting with Aoun, Hariri will make a visit to Cairo tomorrow for talks with (Egyptian) President (Abdel Fattah) al-Sisi before returning to Beirut the same evening,” Annahar said.
“Should Aoun reject the new line-up, Hariri is likely to resort to the choice of stepping down and will announced it in a TV interview on Thursday evening,” the daily added.
Al-Mustaqbal Movement deputy head Mustafa Alloush had said Monday that Hariri would step down at the end of the week to pave the way for parliamentary consultations to name a new premier.
Aoun meanwhile tweeted Tuesday that “whoever wants to criticize the President over his jurisdiction in the formation of governments must read well the fourth clause of the constitution’s Article 53.”