Lebanon’s president names ICJ judge Nawaf Salam as PM-designate

The designation shows a shift in the power balance in Lebanon as Hezbollah wanted Najib Mikati to keep the job.

Lebanon’s newly elected President Joseph Aoun has summoned Nawaf Salam, the head of the International Court of Justice, to designate him as the country’s prime minister after he won the backing of more than half of parliamentarians.

The announcement on Monday reflects the weakened position of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, which wanted caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to keep the job, following its devastating war with Israel and the toppling of the group’s ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria last month.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from the Lebanese capital Beirut, said Salam’s designation “symbolises a new era” in Lebanon’s politics.

“Salam is a newcomer in politics, but he was the ambassador to the United Nations for many years and he has international experience,” she said.

“He is widely respected as a judge, lawyer and diplomat.”

She added: “Salam symbolises change. He was chosen by opposition and independent MPs, who are pushing for a new political order as he does not belong to the political class that has been governing this country for decades and has been accused of mismanagement and corruption.”

The election last week of army commander General Aoun as head of state, a choice backed by the United States, also showed the shift in Lebanon’s sectarian political landscape, in which Hezbollah had long held decisive sway.

His election ended a two-year power vacuum and revived hopes of lifting war-battered Lebanon out of economic crisis.

The eastern Mediterranean country has been run by a caretaker government since November 2022.

Aoun, a Maronite Christian, held consultations over the choice of prime minister with parliament’s 128 MPs on Monday.

Salam had secured the backing of 78 of the MPs by Monday afternoon, with nine endorsing Mikati.

Under Lebanon’s power-sharing system, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the parliament speaker a Shia Muslim.

‘Era of weapons is over’

Salam’s backers view judge and former ambassador Salam as an impartial figure able to carry out much-needed reforms – in contrast to Mikati, who is regarded by critics as being under Hezbollah’s influence.

MP Georges Adwan of the Christian party the Lebanese Forces said after meeting Aoun and endorsing Salam that it was time for Hezbollah to focus on “political work”.

“The era of weapons is over,” Adwan told reporters.

Hezbollah emerged from a brutal war against Israel this autumn severely weakened.

Under a ceasefire deal, the group must pull its fighters from areas of southern Lebanon near the Israeli border as the national army – until last week under Aoun’s command – and UN peacekeepers deploy there.

Hezbollah also lost a key ally in neighbouring Syria when rebel fighters overthrew al-Assad last month.

Senior Hezbollah MP Mohammed Raad said the Iran-backed group’s opponents were seeking its fragmentation and exclusion from power in Lebanon.

Speaking at the presidential palace after Hezbollah MPs had met with Aoun, Raad said his group had “extended its hand” by helping to secure the president’s election as Lebanon’s president last week, only to find the “hand cut off”.