BEIRUT: Lebanese academic and former minister Hassan Diab received the backing of Hizbullah and looked set on Thursday to be named the crisis-wracked country’s new prime minister.
Caretaker premier Saad Hariri pulled out of the race on Wednesday and his bloc did not nominate any candidate when much-delayed consultations to form a new government got under way at the presidential palace.
The nomination of Diab would yield a lopsided government that observers warn could fuel sectarian tensions on the streets and complicate efforts to secure international aid needed to pull Lebanon back from the brink of default.
Hariri resigned seven weeks ago under pressure from an unprecedented wave of protests demanding a complete overhaul of the political system, leaving the country without a government to tackle its worst ever economic crisis.
Diab, a professor at the American University of Beirut and a former education minister with its allies holds a majority in parliament.
President Michel Aoun launched the twice delayed official talks to designate a new prime minister on Thursday, meeting with all parliamentary blocs. — AFP
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