Talks on new Lebanon PM postponed after clashes between protesters & security forces

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun on Monday postponed consultations to select a new prime minister. The move comes after violent clashes erupted over the weekend between protesters and security forces.

More than seven weeks since Saad Hariri quit as prime minister, prompted by protests against the ruling elite, politicians have been unable to agree on a new administration despite a deepening financial crisis.

Despite differences between the main parties, Hariri had been on course to be nominated PM for a fourth time in the consultations. However, in a last-minute change of plan, Aoun postponed these until Thursday, at Hariri’s request, to allow for more talks about the next government, the presidency said.

Political sources and analysts attributed the move to a decision by the Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) party to name neither Hariri nor anyone else for prime minister, a post which, in Lebanon’s sectarian system, must go to a Sunni Muslim.