{"id":30889,"date":"2013-03-23T17:28:12","date_gmt":"2013-03-23T16:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.presstv.ir\/detail\/2013\/03\/23\/294916\/lebanons-sleiman-accepts-pm-resignation\/"},"modified":"2013-03-23T17:28:12","modified_gmt":"2013-03-23T16:28:12","slug":"lebanon-sleiman-accepts-pm-resignation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/lebanon-sleiman-accepts-pm-resignation\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon Sleiman accepts PM resignation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span id=\"ctl00_body_spnDetail\">Lebanese President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati at Baabda Palace on March 23, 2013<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"divDetailBody\">\n<p>Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has called on Prime Minister Najib Mikati to stay on in a caretaking role after he formally accepted the outgoing premier\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n<p>Lebanese newspaper <em>Daily Star<\/em> reported on Saturday that the president would set a date for holding parliamentary talks over naming a prime minister-designate next week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrime Minister Najib Mikati handed President Michel Sleiman [Saturday] at Baabda Palace the letter of resignation of his government and [Sleiman] asked him to continue as caretaker until the formation of a new government,\u201d said the president&#8217;s office in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Following his talks with the president, Mikati also reiterated that his decision to step down was \u201ca personal one\u201d aimed at preparing the ground for a national dialogue that would bring about a \u201csalvation cabinet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement and called on the Lebanese to unite after Mikati\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cAt this challenging time for the region, the secretary general calls on all the parties in Lebanon to remain united behind the leadership of President (Michel) Sleiman,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\nThe UN chief also urged Lebanon\u2019s parties to \u201cwork together with the institutions of the state to maintain calm and stability, to respect Lebanon&#8217;s policy of disassociation\u201d from the crisis in neighboring Syria.<\/p>\n<p>Mikati, who served as Lebanon\u2019s prime minister since June 2011, resigned on March 22 after a deadlock in his cabinet over preparations for forthcoming legislative elections in June.<\/p>\n<p>The premier\u2019s resignation came after disagreements on the formation of an electoral watchdog and the extension of the term of office of police chief Major General Ashraf Rifi.<\/p>\n<p>MKA\/JR\/SL<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pixel.quantserve.com\/pixel\/p-89EKCgBk8MZdE.gif\" border=\"0\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span>Lebanese President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati at Baabda Palace on March 23, 2013<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has called on Prime Minister Najib Mikati to stay on in a caretaking role after he formally accepted the outgoing premier&rsquo;s resignation.<\/p>\n<p>Lebanese newspaper <em>Daily Star<\/em> reported on Saturday that the president would set a date for holding parliamentary talks over naming a prime minister-designate next week.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Prime Minister Najib Mikati handed President Michel Sleiman [Saturday] at Baabda Palace the letter of resignation of his government and [Sleiman] asked him to continue as caretaker until the formation of a new government,&rdquo; said the president&#8217;s office in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Following his talks with the president, Mikati also reiterated that his decision to step down was &ldquo;a personal one&rdquo; aimed at preparing the ground for a national dialogue that would bring about a &ldquo;salvation cabinet.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement and called on the Lebanese to unite after Mikati&rsquo;s resignation.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&ldquo;At this challenging time for the region, the secretary general calls on all the parties in Lebanon to remain united behind the leadership of President (Michel) Sleiman,&rdquo; the statement said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\nThe UN chief also urged Lebanon&rsquo;s parties to &ldquo;work together with the institutions of the state to maintain calm and stability, to respect Lebanon&#8217;s policy of disassociation&rdquo; from the crisis in neighboring Syria.<\/p>\n<p>Mikati, who served as Lebanon&rsquo;s prime minister since June 2011, resigned on March 22 after a deadlock in his cabinet over preparations for forthcoming legislative elections in June.<\/p>\n<p>The premier&rsquo;s resignation came after disagreements on the formation of an electoral watchdog and the extension of the term of office of police chief Major General Ashraf Rifi.<\/p>\n<p>MKA\/JR\/SL<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pixel.quantserve.com\/pixel\/p-89EKCgBk8MZdE.gif\" border=\"0\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-30889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}