The designated Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, at the Baabda Presidential Palace, on Jan. 17, 2025. (Credit: AFP)
Nawaf Salam’s government will not be formed tonight.
The prime minister-designate arrived at the presidential palace in shortly before 6 p.m. to present a draft of his Cabinet to President Joseph Aoun, the prime minister-designate left around 6:30 p.m., saying on his way out that "some issues still need to be resolved."
"I am working to form a reformist government, and I will not accept any obstruction or even the possibility of obstruction," Salam said after his meeting with the president.
"The criteria I am working with are the same ones I previously outlined. I will not waver," he added.
"My concern is not to shield myself from criticism but to form a government capable of implementing reforms."
The breakthrough in forming a draft for the Cabinet — the first under President Joseph Aoun’s mandate — came after Aoun and Salam resolved a dispute over the Lebanese Forces’ representation. The party, the largest in Parliament, has secured the Foreign Ministry and plans to appoint Joe Raggi, Lebanon’s chargé d'affaires in Amman, to the post.
The LF’s ministerial share is also expected to include economist Joe Saddi at the Energy Ministry, Kamal Shahadeh (Protestant) at the Telecommunications Ministry, and businessman Joe Issa al-Khoury at the Industry Ministry.
Salam arrived at the presidential palace in Baabda this evening at 6 p.m., to present Aoun with a nearly finalized draft.
Sources say the Amal-Hezbollah duo's share of ministerial positions is likely to include Yassine Jaber (former MP, close to the Amal Movement) as finance minister, Rakan Nasreddine (Hezbollah) as health minister, and Tamara Zein (Amal) as environment minister.
Hezbollah is expected to appoint a member of the Haidar family to the position of minister of labor. As for the fifth Shiite minister — whom Aoun and Salam reportedly wish to choose themselves in return for Jaber's appointment as finance minister — this position is set to be discussed during the ongoing meeting at Baabda Presidential Palace.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient Le-Jour.
