BEIRUT // Lebanon’s newly elected president Michel Aoun appointed Saad Hariri, a Sunni businessman and former prime minister, to form a new cabinet, building on momentum that has ended a two-year political vacuum.
Most parliamentary blocs endorsed Mr Hariri for the premiership but Iran-backed Shiite movement Hizbollah, an ally of Mr Aoun, was among the holdouts.
Two years of political deadlock ended on Tuesday when Mr Aoun was elected to fill the presidential seat that had been vacant since Michel Suleiman ended his six-year term in 2014. Mr Hariri’s decision to back Mr Aoun’s candidacy paved the way for his own designation as prime minister.
Mr Hariri’s brief is to form a government that will bring together an assortment of groups often split along sectarian lines. That may be tough in a country enduring economic, social and political dislocation from the civil war next door, where Hizbollah fighters are backing Syrian president Bashar Al Assad.
Mr Hariri, who served as prime minister for 14 months until early 2011, vowed to work swiftly to form a national unity government that would overcome political divisions and restore trust in Lebanon’s economy.
“We owe it to the Lebanese people to start working as soon as possible to protect our country from the flames burning around it,” he said in a televised speech.
* Bloomberg
