Lebanese President Michel Sleiman set April 5 and 6 as the dates of the consultations to name a new prime minister in Lebanon.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman set April 5 and 6 as the dates of the consultations to name a new prime minister in Lebanon, the presidency said in a statement.

“The binding parliamentary consultations to name a new premier will kick off at the Baabda Palace on Friday, April 5 and end on the next day,” the statement read.

The consultations will begin with Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday afternoon who will be followed by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Sleiman will then hold a series of separate meetings with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, former Premiers Saad Hariri and Fouad Saniora, and deputy Speaker Farid Makari.

The President will then meet with the Liberation and Development, Mustaqbal, FPM, Loyalty to the Resistance, National Struggle Front, Democratic Gathering, and MP Michel al-Murr parliamentary blocs.

On Saturday, Sleiman will kick off consultations with the Zahleh, Lebanese Forces, Phalange, Unity of the Mountain, Free United Lebanon, Free Decision, Armenian Consensus, Tadamon, Baath Party, Syrian Socialist National Party, Armenian MPs, and Jamaa al-Islamiya blocs.

The Lebanese President will conclude consultations on Saturday with separate meetings with independent MPs Butros Harb, Tammam Salam, Robert Ghanem, Nicolas Fattoush, Dory Shamoun, Robert Fadel, Marwan Hamadeh, Antoine Saad, Fouad al-Saad, Henry Helou, Mohammad Kabbara, Mohammad al-Safadi, and Qassem Abdul Aziz.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said the name of the premier-designate relies on the type and shape of the new government.

“If it is a cabinet (tasked) with holding the elections, then the prime minister-designate would have certain specifications,” Berri told several local dailies published Friday.

“If it is a salvation government, then specifications will be different,” he added, reiterating his support for such a cabinet.

“If during the binding parliamentary consultations the president asked me who will be my nominee, I will first ask him about the nature of the cabinet that will be formed,” Berri said.

Mikati resigned last Friday over differences between cabinet members on the authority that would oversee the elections and the extension of the tenure of Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi.