PM-designate Najib Mikati said, “We seek to form a government based on the French initiative”.

Najib Mikati was summoned to be assigned the task of forming a government after obtaining 72 votes, against 42 blank ballots, one vote for Nawaf Salam, and 3 absent voters.

He added, from Baabda Palace: “I want people’s trust; I do not have a magic wand and I cannot do wonders, especially since the task is difficult, and success can be reached through cooperation without arguments; if anyone has a solution, they must present it”.

“We can only tame the fire through cooperation among all of the Lebanese; I am reassured, and if I didn’t have external guarantees and if I hadn’t known that someone wanted to extinguish the fire, I would not have taken this step”, he stressed.