The name of Lebanon's new Prime Minister will be known on Thursday, following consultations held at Baabda Palace with parliamentary factions by President Michel Aoun. The 66-year-old Sunni politician Najib Mikati, who is currently acting head of the cabinet, has the best chance of retaking the post, Al Manar TV channel reported.
According to preliminary estimate, 65 out of 128 deputies may support his candidacy during consultations with the President. President Aoun can therefore instruct Mikati to form a new government as early as Thursday.
The acting Prime Minister was credited with holding the general elections on 15 May amid sharp confrontation between pro-Western and pro-Syrian parties, as well as drawing up a plan to revive the Lebanese economy and signing a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
Mikati's reappointment is opposed by the Christian Free Patriotic Movement. Its leader Gebran Bassil argues that the acting Prime Minister prevented an audit of the Lebanese Central Bank and the return of illegally exported foreign currency to the country after the October 2019 unrest.
The opposition Lebanese Forces party is unhappy with Mikati's intention to establish a national unity government involving Shiite Hezbollah, whose soldiers are fighting in neighboring Syria. The centrist Progressive Socialist Party believes that "the cabinet should be headed by a figure who is not linked to the corrupt political class that has been in power for 30 years".
According to El Nashra news portal, Mikati's appointment as Prime Minister is supported by France and not opposed by Saudi Arabia, which has traditionally favored the Sunni community in Lebanon. Paris and Riyadh believe that Mikati can ensure stability in the country as it prepares for presidential elections in the second half of the year.
Other candidates
68-year-old diplomat Nawaf Salam, who served as Lebanon's Permanent Representative to the UN from 2007 to 2017 and was elected to the International Court of Justice in the Hague in 2018, is described as a possible contender to head the cabinet. His candidacy is supported by a group of independent deputies and civil society representatives.
The Head of the National Committee for Coronavirus Vaccination, Abdel Rahman Bizri, also stands chance of becoming a prime ministerial candidate.
According to Lebanon's confessional system, the President of the Republic is drawn from the Christian-Maronite community; the post of Prime Minister belongs to Sunni Muslims and the speaker of parliament to Shiite Muslims.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Rami Mohsen/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS