Karami quits, Lahoud accepts his resignation
Lebanon, Politics, 4/14/2005

Designated Lebanese Prime minister Omar Karami quit his post on Wednesday and apologized over his inability to form a new government. This was six weeks after he was re-designated to form this government.

A source close to the Lebanese President Emil Lahoud said he accepted on Wednesday the resignation of Karami and he is about to choose an alternative for him during this week. The official source said that Lahoud will make consultations with the Lebanese officials to choose a new prime minister and assign him to form a new government.

This came hours after the announcement, made by Karami in a press conference, of his apology to form the government in a step threatening to postpone the elections which are due in May this year. Karami justified his position saying "once again we reached a stalemate" following several attempts to remove obstacles before the formation of this government, adding that he will withdraw from Ein al-Tineh meeting.

He said that his decision came because of the "contradictory attitudes among politicians," but he did not disclose more details on these differences. He said he had spent five hours in the meeting with the President Lahoud and the speaker of the parliament Nabih Berri during which they were not able to solve these obstacles.

On the impact of this step on the elections, Karami said that there is still enough time to hold the elections at due set time.

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