Hariri led his March 14 alliance to victory in parliamentary elections on June 7 [AFP]

Michel Sleiman, the Lebanese president, issued a decree appointing Hariri prime minister-designate after meeting him at the presidential palace in Beirut on Saturday.

"According to the constitution and after the president consulted with the speaker of parliament and parliamentarians, he summoned Saad Hariri and tasked him with forming a new government," a presidential statement said.

Hariri entered politics in 2005 after the assassination of his father, Rafiq al-Hariri, a former prime minister.

He led his Western-backed March 14 alliance to victory in parliamentary elections on June 7, winning 71 seats to keep control of the legislature from a rival bloc including Hezbollah, a political group backed by Iran and Syria which enjoys strong support among the country's Shia Muslim community.

"We hope to have a harminous government that will respresent the interests of all Lebanese people," Hariri said after meeting Sleiman.

He pledged to protect the interest of all Lebanese, including those who voted for the opposition alliance.

Courting support

Hariri, a Sunni, had courted support from both sides of Lebanon's political divide in recent days, supporting Nabih Berri, the leader of Amal, another party with a Shia Muslim base, for re-election as speaker and meeting Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader.

However, only 15 of the opposition alliance's 57 MPs backed Hariri when asked by Sleiman.

Members of this bloc are likely to be asked to join a national unity government, but Hezbollah has previously demanded a minority veto, which Hariri has repeatedly refused.

"We will begin consultations with all parliamentary blocs," Hariri said on Saturday.

Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs in Beirut, said that there was now likely to a lot of bargaining while the rival political blocs resolve two major issues.

"One is the apportionment of seats in the cabinet between the various groups in the country, the government majority, the opposition minority and the independent group that would be headed by the president," he said.

"The other is the substantive issues that they have to agree on in the cabinet - internal issues, regional issues, international issues, political economic and military issues."

'Legitimate'

Khouri said that for the first time in many years Lebanon appeared to have a functioning political system that everyone seemed interested in seeing succeed.

"You have a legitimate prime minister with a majority that was elected ... you have a president that has credibility, support and is widely respected, and you have an opposition that is prepared to play the democratic game," he said.

Speaking on Saturday, Hariri said that Lebanon faced sizeable challenges in bringing togther the country's various groups and addressing the economic situation.

"The challenges that face Lebanon are real and huge, but the chances that have been given to us are bigger than that," he said.

Hariri has twice passed on the chance of becoming prime minister, preferring to giving the post to his father's senior aide, Fouad Siniora, to avoid some of the political tension and direct challenge that Hezbollah posed at the time.

Hariri was raised in Saudi Arabia and is seen by some in Lebanon as a symbol of Riyadh's influence in the region, which is rivalled by Damascus.

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