Former Lebanese finance minister Mohammad Safadi withdraws prime minister candidacy amid protests

Withdrawal comes hours after S&P lowered Lebanon's sovereign rating further into junk status

Lebanon's finance minister Mohammad Safadi is reported to have withdrawn his candidacy to be prime minister. REUTERS/Cynthia Karam

Former Lebanese finance minister Mohammad Safadi, 75, has withdrawn his candidacy to be prime minister of the next government.

Mr Safadi said it would have been difficult to form a “harmonious” cabinet supported by all parties.

He said he hoped outgoing prime minister Saad Hariri would be designated again for the post.

On Thursday, three of Lebanon's main political parties agreed on the billionaire businessman as their choice to become Lebanon's new prime minister.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, had confirmed on Friday that Mr Safadi would be nominated for the post when formal deliberations on forming the next government begin in parliament on Monday.

But on Saturday, Mr Safadi said he had decided to withdraw after consultations with political parties and a meeting on Saturday with Mr Hariri.

"It is difficult to form a harmonious government supported by all political sides that could take the immediate salvation steps needed to halt the country's economic and financial deterioration and respond to the aspirations of people in the street," he said.

The news of the withdrawal came few hours after ratings agency S&P Global lowered Lebanon's sovereign rating further into junk status, stating that diminishing confidence in the country and its economy has led to a reversal of inflows into the country's banks.

Lebanese men smoke shisha as smoke billows over the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on November 13, 2019, nearly a month into an unprecedented anti-graft street movement. Street protests erupted, the night before, after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon's government. Protesters responded by cutting off several major roads in and around Beirut, the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern region of Bekaa. / AFP / Ibrahim CHALHOUB

A Lebanese demonstrator carries a placard during a gathering on the road leading to the Presidential Palace in Baabda, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut on November 13, 2019, nearly a month into an unprecedented anti-graft street movement. Street protests erupted, the night before, after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon's government. Protesters responded by cutting off several major roads in and around Beirut, the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern region of Bekaa. / AFP / Anwar AMRO

A Lebanese demonstrator looks on during a gathering on the road leading to the Presidential Palace in Baabda, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut on November 13, 2019, nearly a month into an unprecedented anti-graft street movement. Street protests erupted, the night before, after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon's government. Protesters responded by cutting off several major roads in and around Beirut, the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern region of Bekaa. / AFP / ANWAR AMRO

Lebanese demonstrators clash with anti-riot police on the road leading to the Presidential Palace in Baabda, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut on November 13, 2019, nearly a month into an unprecedented anti-graft street movement. Street protests erupted, the night before, after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon's government. Protesters responded by cutting off several major roads in and around Beirut, the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern region of Bekaa. / AFP / ANWAR AMRO

Lebanese demonstrators chant slogans next to riot police on the road leading to the Presidential Palace in Baabda, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut on November 13, 2019, nearly a month into an unprecedented anti-graft street movement. Street protests erupted, the night before, after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon's government. Protesters responded by cutting off several major roads in and around Beirut, the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern region of Bekaa. / AFP / ANWAR AMRO

A Lebanese demonstrator carries a portrait of Alaa Abou Fakhr, who was shot dead south of Beirut the day before, during a gathering on the road leading to the Presidential Palace in Baabda, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut on November 13, 2019, nearly a month into an unprecedented anti-graft street movement. Street protests erupted, the night before, after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon's government. Protesters responded by cutting off several major roads in and around Beirut, the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern region of Bekaa. / AFP / ANWAR AMRO

Lebanese demonstrators try to remove the barbed-wire and metal rail, placed by anti-riot police (background), on the road leading to the Presidential Palace in Baabda, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut on November 13, 2019, nearly a month into an unprecedented anti-graft street movement. Street protests erupted, the night before, after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon's government. Protesters responded by cutting off several major roads in and around Beirut, the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern region of Bekaa. / AFP / ANWAR AMRO

Lebanese demonstrators carry a poster bearing the portraits of Alaa Abou Fakhr, who was shot dead south of Beirut the day before, and Hussein Atar, a demonstrator who was killed during a protest last month, during a gathering in the southern city of Sidon (Saida) on November 13, 2019, nearly a month into an unprecedented anti-graft street movement. Street protests erupted, the night before, after President Michel Aoun defended the role of his allies, the Shiite movement Hezbollah, in Lebanon's government. Protesters responded by cutting off several major roads in and around Beirut, the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern region of Bekaa. / AFP / Mahmoud ZAYYAT

A Lebanese demonstrator writes "Alaa Abou Fakhr Boulevard" during a gathering on the road leading to the Presidential Palace in Baabda, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut on November 13, 2019, nearly a month into an unprecedented anti-graft street movement. Alaa Abou Fakhr died of gunshot wounds overnight after the army opened fire to disperse protesters south of the capital, in the second such death since the start of the largely peaceful protests. / AFP / ANWAR AMRO

The agency cut Lebanon's long and short-term foreign and local sovereign credit ratings to "CCC/C" from "B-/B", and said the outlook on its debt was negative, citing a one-in-three chance of a further downgrade as its next rating action.

Prime minister Mr Hariri resigned last month following several weeks of protests, with citizens blaming Lebanon's political elite for widespread corruption and nepotism, which they say contributed to the country accruing $86 billion (Dh316bn) of public debt, equivalent to 150 per cent of gross domestic product.

After the candidacy announcement on Thursday, there were further protests in Mr Safadi's home city of Tripoli.

Demonstrators gathered in front of one of his properties to protest against his nomination, which they said was the opposite of the changes demanded in a month of protests across the country.

Mr Safadi, who amassed his fortune largely through real estate, is also a retired politician with many alleged corruption cases behind him.

Protesters are demanding a change from the nation's current political elite, whom they consider to be old and corrupt.

Mr Hariri quit as the premier on October 29 in response to protesters' demands for sweeping change in Lebanon's political system and an end to corruption and sectarian cronyism but politicians had been unable to agree on a new cabinet.

Lebanon’s caretaker Defence Minister, Elias Bou Saab, said on Thursday the country was in a “very dangerous situation” and compared recent street unrest to the start of the 1975-1990 civil war.

Rallies have been overwhelmingly peaceful but a protester was shot dead in an altercation with soldiers on Tuesday.