Hariri Says ‘Situations Improving, Atmosphere Leaning to Positivity’

Prime Minister Saad Hariri, right smiles after he meeting Lebanon's newly elected President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016. Aoun, on Thursday asked former Premier Saad Hariri to form a new government, after he secured an overwhelming parliamentary majority to be named as the next prime minister. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri announced Sunday that the situations in the country “started to improve” after his appointment as PM-designate and Michel Aoun’s election as president.

“The convention represents a new beginning for al-Mustaqbal Movement, which has a project for the country and is looking to the future,” Hariri told an expat Mustaqbal delegation that took part in Mustaqbal’s ongoing second convention at BIEL.

“After the election of a president and my appointment as PM-designate, we have noticed that the situations have started improving and people feel that the atmosphere is leaning to positivity at all levels,” Hariri added.

Aoun’s election and Hariri’s appointment as premier-designate have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees.

In a sign that Hariri’s mission as premier might not be easy, Hizbullah’s MPs declined to endorse him during binding parliamentary consultations.

Hariri and Aoun are still struggling to put together a new cabinet amid conflicting demands from the political forces that are seeking to join the unity government.