Mustapha Adib with President Michel Aoun and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri in the Presidential Palace near Beirut
Photo:MOHAMED AZAKIR / REUTERS
Change from Berlin to Beirut: Lebanon's previous ambassador to Germany is to become the new Prime Minister of his country. The main blocks in parliament agreed on 48-year-old Mustafa Adib as prime minister.
A spokesman for the presidential palace announced that head of state Michel Aoun had entrusted Adib with the formation of a government. The previous government resigned four weeks ago after the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut.
Adib has been ambassador to Berlin since 2013. The lawyer and political scientist, who holds a doctorate in law, is rather unknown to the Lebanese public. So far he has not held any top political positions.
The previous Prime Minister Hassan Diab had announced the resignation of the government after the explosion in Beirut, which left more than 180 dead and more than 6,000 injured. The highest state offices in Lebanon are distributed among the largest denominations according to a decade-old system of proportional representation. The president must always be a Christian, the prime minister a Sunni and the head of parliament a Shiite.
For Lebanon it is the second change of government in less than a year. Diab only took over the office of prime minister in the spring after his predecessor Saad al-Hariri announced his resignation after mass protests last October. Hariri, who leads the largest Sunnnite party in Lebanon, recently spoke out in favor of Ambassador Diab as the new prime minister. The powerful Shiite party Hezbollah also backed the nomination.
Macron is said to have pushed for a quick government formation
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected in Lebanon on Monday evening. According to the Reuters news agency, Lebanese government circles said Macron had urged the Beirut leadership to quickly agree on a new prime minister.
The Mediterranean country has long been suffering from a severe economic crisis. Demonstrators at mass protests are calling for fundamental political reforms. Among other things, you accuse the country's political elite of corruption and self-enrichment.
Icon: The mirrormes / dpa / Reuters