Dubai: Billionaire businessman Najeeb Mikati was poised to become Leban-on's next prime minister after the opposition March 8 coalition picked him as their candidate ahead of yesterday's parliamentary consultations to appoint a new premier.
Druze leader Walid Junblatt also said he backed Mikati in talks to name the new prime minister yesterday, giving him the parliamentary majority to head a new government.
President Michel Sulaiman yesterday began two-day consultations to choose a new prime minister.
Meanwhile, members of caretaker prime minister Sa'ad Hariri's March 14 coalition said they viewed Mikati's candidacy as "treason" given that he was elected to parliament as a member of their coalition.
Fifty-five-year-old Mikati, who served as prime minister for three months in April 2005, declared himself a candidate of moderation, adding, "My candidacy is not against anyone, but an opportunity to reconnect what was lost between the leaders.
"I extend my hand to everyone," he said. "If I am appointed, my actions will speak for themselves."
A statement from Hariri's press office rejected Mikati's statement that he is a "consensus candidate".
"There is no consensus candidate in the parliamentary consultations on the nomination. There is a candidate named Sa'ad Hariri, and another candidate belonging to March 8 forces. The choice here is clear."
Late on Sunday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed that his coalition will form Lebanon's next government if their candidate wins the confidence of parliamentarians.
"We in the March 8 coalition will make sure that the new premier forms a national unity cabinet in which everyone participates. We are not calling for a cabinet that excludes any party in Lebanon," Nasrallah said.
Hariri, however, said yesterday that he won't take part in any future government headed by a Hezbollah-backed candidate.
Hezbollah brought down Hariri's government on January 12.
