Lebanon’s designated Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has initiated two-day parliamentary consultations on Wednesday to gather input from lawmakers over the formation of a new government following a years-long political stalemate.
The consultations were boycotted by MPs from the Amal Movement and Hezbollah parliamentary blocs over alleged “external pressures” that led to Salam’s designation as the new premier.
But Salam was picked by the Lebanese parliament members as stipulated in the Lebanese constitution . While Salam received 85 votes out of the 128 member parliament Hezbollah’s and Amal’s candidate Najib Mikati received 9 votes .
During the election of Josef Aoun as president Hezbollah and Amal reportedly met with Aoun and expressed interest in Mikati’s designation as PM . Hezbollah was under the impression that Mikati was the front runner as was widely rumored in the Lebanese media . Hence the designation of Salam ws a huge shock for Hezbollah since Mikati has always been their preferred candidate . But in the end it is not up to Aoun or Hezbollah to decide . This decision is a democratic par excellence and is based on who gets the highest number of votes .
One analyst told Ya Libnan: “The time for Hezbollah to dictate who will be president and who will be the prime minister is over. Unlike the past 50 years when Syria and Iran through its proxy Hezbollah used to decide who will be the president and PM of Lebanon we now have a real Made in Lebanon Lebanese President and Premier .”
MP Qassem Hashem of the Amal Movement confirmed that lawmakers from the bloc would be absent during the consultations, with anger still lingering among the Shia-dominated parties over the appointment of Salam as PM.
“Firstly, these are non-binding consultations, and secondly, we are boycotting to make a political stance,” he told The New Arab‘s Arabic language service Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
The irony here is that until Hezbollah’s presidential candidate Suleiman Franjieh resigned last week , he and Salam were supposed supposed to be their candidates as proposed by France
Franjieh, a personal friend of Bashar al Assad decided to withdraw in favor of Joseph Aoun after Assad’s fall about a month ago
Extends hands
After he was designated by President Aoun on Monday , Salam said he will not marginalize any side in Lebanon, an apparent reference to the Hezbollah .
“Both my hands are extended to all of you so that we all move forward in the mission of salvation, reforms and reconstruction,” Salam said.
New Chapter
“The time has come to say, enough. Now is the time to start a new chapter,” Salam said adding that people in Lebanon have suffered badly because of “the latest brutal Israeli aggression on Lebanon and because of the worst economic crisis and financial policies that made the Lebanese poor.”
Decades of corruption and political paralysis have left Lebanon’s banks barely functional, while electricity services are almost entirely in the hands of private diesel-run generator owners and fuel suppliers. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic further battered the economy, and the Beirut port explosion, one of the largest non-nuclear blasts ever recorded, badly damaged several neighborhoods in the heart of the capital.
1701 Implementation
Salam vowed to fully implement the U.N. Security Council resolution related to the Israel-Hezbollah war which states that Israel should withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah should not have an armed presence close to the border with Israel.
The premier added that he will work on spreading state authority on all parts of Lebanon through “its forces.”
Salam said he will work on putting a program to build a modern economy that would help the country of 6 million people, including 2 million Syrian refugees, out of its economic crisis that exploded into protests in October 2019.