Michel Aoun exists presidency leaving Lebanon in state of political vacuum
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Salma Hossein
- . October 31, 2022
- . Update: November 11, 2022 1:15 am
As he departed the presidential palace, Lebanon’s outgoing president Michel Aoun said in a speech that he was leaving behind “a robbed country, a worn-out state, and institutions that no longer have any value.” The outgoing head of state on Sunday launched a rather blistering attack on his political opponents and the judiciary of Lebanon as he bowed out of the presidential palace.
“This morning, I sent a letter to the House of Representatives in accordance with my constitutional powers and signed the government’s resignation decree,” he wrote on Twitter. The 89 year old leader signed a decree as he accepted the resignation of the government a day before his term end. The deeply divided MPs in Lebanon have failed to elect Aoun’s successor even after four attempts.
Aoun has blamed his political opponents for preventing him from bringing to justice Governor Riad Salameh of Central Bank of Lebanon, who is being investigated in many European countries, including Switzerland, France and Luxembourg for money laundering and embezzlement, who he has described as “the perpetrator of all financial crimes.” Aoun announced that he has signed a final decree that formalizes the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s caretaker government.
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In a letter to parliament, Aoun called on it “not to entrust the caretaker government with the powers of the president, since it had failed to elect a new president within the constitutional deadline”. He added, “This government lacks popular legitimacy and thus, constitutional legitimacy.”
In the event when there is a presidential vacuum, the government takes on presidential powers. But this will be the first time that a caretaker government could be called in to fill the vacuum since the civil war of Lebanon ended 32 years ago.
Thousands of supports gathered outside the presidential palace in Baabda as the former army chief Michel Aoun left the palace, who founded the Free Patriotic Movement, the political party which is allied with Iran backed Hezbollah.
