The election of General Joseph Aoun to the presidency has not only ended the prolonged presidential vacuum — a recurring issue that has become one of the most glaring flaws in Lebanon’s democracy — but also marked a dramatic shift in Lebanon’s Arab alignment. The country appears to have been miraculously freed from the Iranian straitjacket that has distorted and suffocated it. While this election, clearly imposed by external forces, enjoys equally clear popular support, it resonates most because it signals the potential return of a vital and long-absent element to the Republic: normality. This normality, after all, should be the foundation of public life and the functioning of institutions.
What, a decorated military officer tasked with teaching us the rudiments of coexistence under the framework of the law, in the shadow of a State that is now the sole holder of armed force? Yet again, and for the fourth time in a row, a gallant soldier bombarded as president with no regard for the often disappointing or sometimes catastrophic experiences of the past.
Should we not rather see in this phenomenon the total failure of a political establishment that has done its utmost to render the system of parliamentary democracy with which the country was endowed unworkable and unrecognizable?
Joseph Aoun wasn't brought up in the seraglio, but to paraphrase Racine, he knows its twists and turns very well. As demonstrated in his inaugural speech on Jan. 9, he listed all the wounds afflicting our country and outlined the remedies he promises himself — and us — to implement.
The truth of his diagnosis is striking: the crisis of governance is in fact doubled by a crisis of government, which fails to apply the law and loses its way in interpreting and formulating it. Ironically, this was just illustrated by the lively exchanges between parliamentarians debating — in good or very bad faith — the regularity of the ballot. The fact remains, however, that generations of elected representatives have turned the Constitution into a sort of "Spanish inn," where everyone can find the legal arguments they want, the example coming naturally from above...
It's a real Herculean task that a man of imposing stature is tackling, but who, with his impeccable record of service, is above all strengthened by his local and international audience. Whether it's the pacification of southern Lebanon on the basis of various U.N. resolutions, the demarcation of all borders, decentralization, the return of the Shiite community to the fold of the State or economic and financial reform and recovery, Joseph Aoun will need to be supported by a government that shares his options and is in complete harmony with his policies.
In deciding to elect a president with full knowledge of his views, the Cabinet has only crossed half of the way. The next challenge is to appoint a suitable prime minister during the parliamentary consultations due to start next Monday. All that remains then is to form a government team that rises to the occasion, and above all, is homogeneous — far removed from all the heresy of opposing ministers and blocking third parties, likely to discourage the best will in the world.
Is it really necessary to stress that, in the face of this veritable marathon, the president's surest and most precious ally will be a justiciary system restored to independence? In our country, which has become the land of all kinds of turpitude, it's not just a question of punishing smugglers and drug traffickers. Leaders have plundered state resources without being held accountable. Numerous attacks, assassinations and other political crimes, with their share of complicity or unforgivable negligence, have been committed with complete impunity. A certain investigative judge, notoriously threatened even in his office at the Justice Palace, is waiting for the state to come back to life before publishing the results of his investigation into the deadly explosions in the port of Beirut in 2020.
The legal sword certainly makes an impression. It does so even better when backed by the sword of justice.
Issa GORAIEB
igor@lorientlejour.com
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient Le-Jour.