Lebanese political sources told Reuters that the current president of the International Court of Justice, Nawaf Salam, had received the support of a sufficient number of Lebanese representatives to choose him for the position of prime minister.
The first round of binding parliamentary consultations conducted by the President of the Lebanese Republic, Joseph Aoun, to nominate the president in charge of forming the government ended with 12 votes for Salam, while caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati received 8 votes if the vote of Representative Jamil Al-Sayyid is counted, according to what was reported. National Media Agency.
Al-Sayyed said, “If the votes are equal between President Mikati and candidate Nawaf Salam, my vote will be for President Mikati,” while Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Elias Bou Saab announced that he had not named anyone to form the new government.
The second and final stage began at two in the afternoon. Within two hours of that, the number of supporters for Salam reached 68 deputies, and thus he practically became the prime minister-designate awaiting the official announcement that would be issued by the Presidency of the Republic.
Political sources told Reuters that Iran-backed Hezbollah postponed a meeting with President Aoun on Monday during which he was scheduled to determine his preferred candidate for the position of prime minister, which indicates tension in the process. But the sources said that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement postponed their meeting after it became clear that another candidate would gain greater support among representatives, namely the President of the International Court of Justice, Judge Nawaf Salam. Aoun is required to appoint the candidate who enjoys the greatest amount of support among the 128 Lebanese representatives.
This morning, the Lebanese President began consultations with the parliamentary blocs, in preparation for naming a person who will be entrusted with the task of forming a new government that faces great challenges.
After several candidates announced their willingness to take over the position that belongs to the Sunni community in Lebanon, the competition was mainly limited to two candidates: caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and veteran diplomat Nawaf Salam, who currently heads the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and is supported by the political forces opposing the “Party.” God,” according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
Mikati said, on the sidelines of the president’s election session on Thursday, that he was ready “if there is any necessity” to “serve the country.”
Mikati, whose government led the country during more than two years of the presidency being vacant, during a period in which the economic collapse deepened and witnessed a devastating war between Hezbollah and Israel, has good relations with political forces, and enjoys foreign relations with several parties.
After opposition forces, including the Lebanese Forces bloc and other small blocs, announced on Saturday their decision to nominate MP Fouad Makhzoumi to head the government, opposition and independent representatives announced their support for the nomination of Judge Nawaf Salam. He is a respected veteran diplomat in Lebanon, and his name is mentioned during every parliamentary consultation.
After meetings and communications that continued until late Sunday night, Makhzoumi announced, on Monday morning, his withdrawal from running for prime minister, on the basis that “the presence of more than one opposition candidate will inevitably lead to everyone’s loss” and make way for “consensus” on peace.
He said, in a statement, that the country “needs a radical change in its approach to governance, and a government that keeps pace with the sovereign and reformist aspirations of the new era.”
Opposition MP Ibrahim Mneimneh also announced the withdrawal of his candidacy in favor of Salam.
Hezbollah’s opponents and those who oppose appointing Mikati believe that he forms part of the previous political system over which Hezbollah tightened its grip, and that adjusting the balance of political power at home in the wake of the setbacks that Hezbollah suffered in its recent confrontation with Israel, assumes the direction To name a new character.
The leader of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, said last week: “There is a new era that has begun… Whether we like it or not, President Mikati was with the last group.”
Challenges
Not all blocs announced the identity of the candidate they support. The candidate who receives the largest number of votes among the competitors wins.
According to the Lebanese Constitution, the President of the Republic appoints the Prime Minister-designate, in consultation with the Speaker of Parliament, after being informed of the results of the parliamentary consultations.
Assigning a new president to form a government does not mean that its birth is imminent. This task often took weeks or even months, due to political divisions and conditions and counterconditions in a country whose system is based on the principle of quotas.
In his swearing-in speech following his swearing-in, the Lebanese President announced the beginning of a “new phase for Lebanon,” outlining his plan of action in the coming period, in the wake of rapid regional changes and the decline of the influence of a major political group, Hezbollah, which was weakened by a devastating confrontation it waged with… Israel.
The next government awaits major challenges. The most prominent of which is the reconstruction after the recent war, which destroyed parts of the south and east of the country and in the southern suburbs of Beirut, and the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, which stipulates Israel’s withdrawal from the areas it entered in the south, and includes adherence to UN Security Council Resolution “1701” issued in 2006; One of its terms is for Hezbollah to move away from the borders, disarm all armed groups in Lebanon, and limit it to legitimate forces alone.
Another challenge is implementing urgent reforms to accelerate the economy more than five years after an unprecedented collapse.
