Good News And Bad News From Lebanon As Nawaf Salam Elected Premier
Date
1/14/2025 7:01:37 PM
(MENAFN- Asia Times)
The good news from Lebanon is that Hezbollah's incumbent prime minister, Najib Mikati, has lost the race for another term, causing the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia to complain that it was being pushed out of the Political process.
The bad news is that the one who got the call on Monday to form a cabinet was International Court of Justice President Nawaf Salam, whose staunch anti-Israel stances make it hard to imagine that he could lead Lebanon back to the 1949 truce with the Jewish state, let alone suing for peace and normalization.
The build up to Salam's call started with the opposition bloc of 35 lawmakers nominating one of its own, Fouad Makhzoumi, to the position. The opposition has been the only bloc, in Lebanon's 128-member parliament, to
demand , out loud, the disarmament of Hezbollah. An independent bloc of 17 MPs nominated Salam.
“The smaller bloc should have endorsed Makhzoumi, but they did not budge,” Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces Party, the biggest bloc within the opposition told Alhadath channel.“Had we not endorsed their candidate, Salam, the result would have been another term for [Hezbollah's candidate] Mikati.”
The 52 votes for Salam started snowballing. By the time lawmakers disclosed their choices to President Joseph Aoun, who had been elected president last week, Salam's endorsement had reached 84 votes. Mikati received only nine. Seeing the defeat coming, the two Shia blocs of Hezbollah and Amal, with 30 votes, abstained from nominating anyone to the premiership. Aoun asked Salam to form a cabinet.
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