![Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri gives a statement to the press outside the Lebanon Tribunal on 18 August 2020 in The Hague, Netherlands. [Pierre Crom/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/d2.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1228093003.jpg?fit=920%2C613&ssl=1)
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Sunday he is not a candidate to form a new government, Anadolu Agency reports.
“Hariri is not a candidate to form a new government,” his office said in a statement.
The denial came one day after Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib resigned on Saturday after failing to form a new government.
Hariri reiterated his support to French President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative for forming a new cabinet and reforming the banking system in the country.
The government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab resigned last month after a massive explosion rocked Beirut’s port on Aug. 4.
The blast, which shook Lebanon to its core and caused massive destruction in the capital, came at a time when the country was reeling under a crippling economic crisis, amid a struggle against the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
READ: Lebanon’s prime minister-designate quits in blow to French initiative