Hariri says he won’t return as prime minister

Beirut: Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister said he is not going to lead the nation again as protesters continued to reject the leadership’s overtures to end the country’s political crisis.

“I am holding on to the principle of ‘not me but someone else’,” Sa'ad Hariri tweeted on Tuesday.

Parliamentary consultations on picking a new premier will start on Thursday, Sky News Arabia reported, citing unidentified sources at the presidential palace.

The deepening crisis that’s gripped Lebanon has paralysed the economy, put pressure on its decades-old currency peg and raised the threat of default. Hariri stepped down late last month and demonstrators are demanding a government of technocrats to avoid an impending financial meltdown.

Major political parties nominated a wealthy businessman to lead the cabinet but he withdrew his candidacy after a backlash from protesters.