PM-designate Najib Mikati said from Baabdar that “the meeting with the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, was important, especially after yesterday’s events and we learned lessons from what happened yesterday”.

He added: “We thank France and the countries for the international conference, and they said, Form a government and we will be by your side to help you, I stressed to the President the need to form a government, and we would be committing a great sin if we do not expedite the process; we made progress today regarding consultations, although it was slow, we persevere and insist on forming the government”.

He considered that “The stage is very difficult and the parliamentary elections are important; I listen to everyone and there are no coups in Lebanon; we must go through the constitutional stages until we reach the elections that will decide the future of the country; I am committed to the integrity of the elections”.

“Any word I say will increase obstacles and I will not say anything to avoid gossip and additional obstacles, and there isn’t a portfolio linked to a sect according to the Constitution. There is no deadline for the PM-designate, but what I said earlier was driven by my patriotic sense, which is that if someone else wants to carry this burden, please do so”.

“I do not abide by a deadline, but I seek the formation of a government and I accepted the task and I never mentioned that I might apologize, but if I reach a dead end in the process of finding a homogeneous group that will work on reviving the country, I will address the Lebanese, but I have not found any problem so far”, he added.