Jumblatt endorses Hezbollah nominee

Members of Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt’s faction nominate Hezbollah-backed candidate Najib Mikati for premiership.

This is while Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri says he will not participate in any future government led by a Hezbollah-backed candidate.

The announcement comes as Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has started two days of consultations with lawmakers over their choice of the premier.

Mikati has vowed to cooperate with all parties to help bring the country out of its current political stalemate.

He served as Lebanon’s premier for three months in 2005 after the departure of the Syrian forces from the country.

After a meeting with Sleiman on Monday, Mikati presented himself as a consensual candidate, reaching out to all sides.

Hariri’s government collapsed on January 12 after 11 ministers from Hezbollah and its allies quit the cabinet over tensions stemming from the US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which is probing the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.

Lebanon’s major political groups have questioned the STL’s credibility and accused the tribunal of seeking to sow discord in the country.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah pledged the movement’s support for national unity and called on the international community to follow suit ahead of the parliamentary consultations.

Jumblatt has thrown his full support behind Hezbollah to ease the country’s struggles for picking a new premier.

Considered a kingmaker in Lebanese politics, Jumblatt’s support is crucial to decide who forms the new government out of the two rivals: Hariri or the opposition led by Hezbollah resistance movement.

According to Lebanon’s constitution, candidates need the support of at least 65 lawmakers to form a government in the country’s 128-seat parliament.

Hezbollah and its allies already have 57 seats against 60 for Hariri’s Western- and Saudi-backed coalition.