Opposition rules out Hariri re-election

Lebanese opposition groups have reportedly voiced disappointment at Saad Hariri, deciding against re-electing him as the country prime minister.

After more than a year, Hariri was forced to step down as prime minister following the January 12 resignation of more than a third of his 30-member cabinet.

The ministers argued that Hariri was being influenced by the United States.

The remaining ministers, however, have retained office on an interim basis at President Michel Sleiman’s request until the country chooses another cabinet.

Michel Aoun, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, which is a Christian opposition group, said on Saturday that helping Hariri back into the office will be opting for “corruption and foreign domination of the country,” Lebanese website Naharnet reported.

Sources with the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, which also leads a parliamentary faction, have likewise ruled out Hariri’s re-election.

“The party’s decision along with the opposition to name a prime minister other than caretaker PM Saad Hariri is decisive,” London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Sunday, citing some Hezbollah sources.

The mass departure by the ministers came after the premier did not heed the oppositions’ warnings and distance himself from the US-sponsored tribunal on his father and predecessor Rafiq Hariri’s 2005 assassination.

Hezbollah says Washington and Tel Aviv are trying to forcibly incriminate the movement in the murder, using the court.

The prospects of the politically-motivated verdict have propelled the country into a crisis and threaten to further divide the Lebanese ranks.