Lebanese President Joseph Aoun chose Nawaf Salam, the head of the International Court of Justice, to be his prime minister after a majority of lawmakers approved his candidacy on Monday.
This is a major blow to Hezbollah, which accused opponents of seeking to exclude it from running, writes A2.
Salam's election underscored the major shift in the balance of power between Lebanon's sectarian factions since the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah was shattered by war with Israel last year and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad was toppled.
The presidency said Salam, currently abroad, had secured the support of 84 of the 128 lawmakers in parliament and Aoun had summoned him to appoint him to form the government.
Salam won the support of Christian factions and prominent Sunni Muslim lawmakers, including Hezbollah allies and opponents of the group, who have long demanded that he give up his powerful military arsenal, arguing that it has undermined the state.
But lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally the Amal Movement, which holds all the seats reserved for Shiites in Parliament, did not name anyone, indicating that they do not currently intend to participate in Salam's government and raising the prospect of sectarianism if they remain outside the cabinet.
Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad, whose Iran-backed group had called for incumbent President Najib Mikati to remain in office, said Hezbollah's opponents were working for fragmentation and exclusion. He said the group had "extended its hand," electing Joseph Aoun as president last week only to find "its hand cut off."
Aoun's election and the appointment of a new prime minister are steps toward reviving Lebanese government institutions that have been paralyzed for more than two years, with the country lacking neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet. (A2 Televizion)
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