The General Directorate of the Presidency of the Republic confirmed that the paper sent by the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun to the Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, “Provides only for the methodology for forming the government and includes four pillars, following which leads to the formation of a government by agreement between the President of the Republic and the President-designate”.

In a statement read by the political and media advisor to the President of the Republic, Antoine Constantine, the General Directorate stressed that the paper “Contains no names, so that it has a blocking third. It is only a mechanism for forming in terms of cooperation that must precede every agreement pursuant to the provisions of Article 53 – Clause 4 of the Constitution”.

In response, Hariri press office deplored the “fallacies contained in the statement of the presidency of the republic”, stressing that President Aoun has insisted on obtaining the blocking third.

“However, what is surprising and unacceptable is that the General Directorate of the Presidency of the Republic distributes a table that has nothing to do with what His Excellency President Aoun sent to Prime Minister Hariri yesterday, claiming that this is the table that was sent.”

Hariri’s office also published the paper sent to him by by President Aoun, which showed Aoun’s ministerial distribution prepared in a way that gives the blocking thirds to the President.

Later on, the presidency issued a statement which confirmed that the recent paper released by Hariri’s office dates back to the early governmental consultations between the president and premier-designate.

Source: Al-Manar English Website and NNA