Nawaf Salam’s government wins the backing of 95 lawmakers in the 128-seat parliament.
Lebanon’s new government has won a confidence vote in parliament, following a speech by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam promising to push for economic reforms and to start negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.
Salam’s government won the backing of 95 lawmakers in the 128-seat chamber late on Wednesday.
Lebanon’s political landscape has been overturned since Hezbollah, long a dominant player in Lebanese politics, was badly pummeled in last year’s war with Israel.
The new government’s policy statement, as such, did not include language used in previous years that was seen as legitimising a role for Hezbollah in defending Lebanon.
“We want a state that holds the exclusive authority over decisions on war and peace, a state loyal to the constitution and national accord ensuring the implementation of unfulfilled provisions,” Salam said before parliament.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah had given its backing to the government in a speech delivered by senior Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad.
“We will work on removing Lebanon from the grey list and start negotiations with the International Monetary Fund,” Salam said before the vote. “We will put depositors at the top of our priorities.”
Lebanon’s new administration is made up of political outsiders and presented its agenda to a parliament “still dominated by parties blamed for nearly bankrupting the country”, said Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.
“It’s a different time, and follows Hezbollah’s 14-month conflict with Israel and the fall of Bashar al-Assad in neighboring Syria, which closed supply routes from Iran,” said Khodr.
“The new government didn’t give Hezbollah status as the only legitimate armed entity other than the military. A post-Hezbollah era is being established.”
Beyond issues of security, the new government is going to have to deal with extensive reconstruction, as well as a battered economy and financial sector, among other challenges, Khodr added.
Lebanon has been in economic crisis since 2019, when its financial system collapsed under the weight of massive state debts, prompting a sovereign default in 2020 and freezing ordinary depositors out of their savings in the banking system.
The country formed a new government on February 8, following unusually direct US intervention in the process and in a step intended to bring the country closer to accessing reconstruction funds following the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Beirut reached a draft funding deal with IMF in 2022 – contingent on reforms that authorities failed to deliver.