Lebanon’s Aoun tells PM-designate Hariri to form government or go

President asks PM-designate either to step down or form government as soon as possible to tackle economic woes.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has told Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to form a new cabinet immediately or else make way as soon as possible, amid growing anger over the country’s intensifying economic crisis. Aoun and Hariri have been at loggerheads over government formation for almost five months, leaving Lebanon rudderless as it sinks deeper into financial collapse. “If prime minister-designate Hariri finds himself unable to form a government … he should make way for those who are,” Aoun said in a televised speech on Wednesday after inviting him to the presidential palace for immediate talks on the matter.