The move follows media reports that the majority of Lebanese lawmakers selected former education minister Diab as the candidate for the post of prime minister.
Lebanon’s President Aoun has named former education minister Hassan Diab as the country’s next Prime Minister in a televised statement broadcast by Lebanese media.
Aoun previously delayed a parliamentary session to appoint a new prime minister, just a week after consultations had to be similarly postponed in the wake of the withdrawal of businessman Samir Khatib from the race. Khatib had been touted as a likely candidate for the vacant position.
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri stepped down after a wave of protests ripped through Lebanon in the middle of October. The demonstrators took to streets to oppose a tax on internet calls made via the WhatsApp messenger
Despite the fact that the initiative was abandoned and the cabinet was disbanded, people continued rallying to demand economic reforms, specifically in the banking sector.
Diab, born in 1959, served as Lebanon’s minister of education and higher education between June 2011 and February 2014.
