Yesterday, the caretaker prime minister in Lebanon, Najib Mikati, retracted his previous decision regarding daylight saving time, which caused confusion in the country.
Mikati said in statements after the cabinet session, reported by the National News Agency, that daylight saving time “will start from midnight Wednesday next Thursday, because we had to take a 48-hour period to address some technical issues.”
He added, “The continuation of working in winter time until the end of the month of Ramadan, which I consulted with the Speaker of Parliament, was preceded by intensive meetings over months, with the participation of ministers and stakeholders.”
He stressed that this decision was aimed at resting those fasting during the month of Ramadan for an hour without causing any harm to any other Lebanese component.
He also confirmed that the decision “was taken many times in the past. Suddenly, outside the purely natural and administrative context, some considered the decision a challenge to him and gave him a dimension that I had never imagined. Let us be clear. The problem is not a winter or summer watch that has been extended for less than a month. Rather, the problem is the vacancy in the first site in the Republic.
Miqati had announced earlier that he had decided to postpone summer time work to next April 20, instead of starting daylight saving time on the last weekend of March, as is the custom in Lebanon. At first, he did not mention the reason for the decision, but some considered it an attempt to appeal to Muslims by giving the opportunity for those fasting in Ramadan to break their fast early according to winter time at around six o’clock in the evening, instead of seven if summer time work is applied at its usual time.