Collage by Jaimee Lee Haddad
BEIRUT — The 24-member government announced on Feb. 8 by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is not unprecedented, but it stands out for several key characteristics. It includes ministers with no political party affiliation, increased female representation, significant number of alumni from the American University of Beirut (AUB) and Notre-Dame de Jamhour and renowned figures in Lebanese politics. L’Orient-Le Jour highlights seven key features of this new Cabinet
20 percent female representation
Lebanese feminists had hoped for at least 30 percent female participation in Salam’s government, but only five women were appointed, making up nearly 20 percent of the Cabinet. Among them is Laura al-Khazen Lahoud, the new minister of tourism, whose mother, Mirna Boustany, was the first woman to be elected MP in 1963. This followed the death of her father, businessman Emile Boustany, who was a Chouf MP.
Before this Cabinet, only 19 women had held ministerial positions out of 1,072 appointments since Lebanon’s independence in 1943, according to the Feminist Platform, an initiative backed by the United Nations. The first female ministers were appointed in October 2004, when the first two women joined a 30-member government. The highest female representation came in February 2020 under then-Prime Minister Hassan Diab, with six women in a 20-member Cabinet (30 percent).
Nonetheless, Salam’s government marks an increase from Najib Mikati’s last Cabinet in September 2021, which included just one woman.
A third-generation Salam as prime minister
Salam presents a paradox: he is viewed as a reformist but comes from a prominent political family. His uncle, Saeb Salam, was a four-time prime minister between 1952 and 1973 and is considered one of the architects of Lebanon’s independence. Salam’s cousin, Tammam Salam, served as prime minister from 2014 to 2016. His appointment continues a legacy of prominent Sunni political families that have historically held the post, alongside the Solh, Karameh and Hariri families.
Only three ministers have served in government previously
Yassin Jaber, Tarek Mitri and Ghassan Salameh are the only three among the 24 newly appointed ministers who have previously held ministerial positions, while none of the members of Najib Mikati’s caretaker government were reappointed.
Named finance minister, Jaber previously served as minister of economy and trade from 1995 to 1998 and as minister of public works and transport from 2004 to 2005.
Mitri and Salameh are prominent figures in Lebanese public life as well as international diplomacy. Salameh returns as culture minister, a position he held from 2000 to 2003 in Rafik Hariri’s government.
Mitri, appointed deputy prime minister, held multiple ministerial roles between 2005 and 2011 in four successive Lebanese governments, including environment, administrative development, culture and information.
Both also served as U.N. special representatives to Libya — Mitri from 2012 to 2014 and Salameh from 2017 to 2020.
Only one affiliated minister
While 12 ministers were nominated by political parties — four by the Lebanese Forces, four by the Hezbollah-Amal alliance, two by the Progressive Socialist Party, one by the Kataeb and one Armenian Tashnag party — only one is officially affiliated with a party.
Youth and Sports Minister Noura Bairakdarian, appointed by Tashnag, is the sole party member in the Cabinet, according to L’Orient-Le Jour's information.
AUB and Jamhour well-represented
Half of the ministers in the Salam government have studied at, currently teach, or have taught at the American University of Beirut (AUB), the university said in a statement Monday morning.
Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour is also well represented, with three alumni — Adel Nassar, Joe Rajjeh and Joe Saddi — and four ministers who are parents of current or former students — Joe Issa al-Khoury, Tamara al-Zein, Charles Hage and Paul Morcos — the school noted Sunday evening.
Rajjeh and Nassar continued their studies at Saint Joseph University (USJ) in Beirut, where Salameh earned his degree in public law before later teaching.
Additionally, Joe Saddi serves as president of the USJ High Council.
No clear blocking third
For the first time since the 2008 Doha Agreement, no political faction appears to hold a so-called "blocking third," card. Controlling one-third of the Cabinet plus one minister grants the power to veto key decisions requiring a two-thirds majority — according to Article 65, Paragraph 5 of the Constitution — and to collapse the government (Article 69).
The Hezbollah-Amal alliance has used this mechanism to block decisions since 2008. In July 2008, 11 out of 30 ministers resigned, all of which belonged to the alliance and its allies, including Christian groups.
This time, Salam and President Joseph Aoun worked to avoid government paralysis by securing a strong share of ministers (11 out of 23) and excluding parties the Marada Movement and Free Patriotic Movement from quotas — parties that are or have previously been aligned with Hezbollah.
Neutralizing blocking related to confessional legitimacy
The Cabinet follows the traditional 24-minister format established by the 1989 Taif Agreement, which ensures Muslim-Christian parity: five Shiites, five Sunnis, two Druze, five Maronites, three Greek Orthodox, two Greek Catholics, one Armenian, and one Protestant.
By appointing a fifth Shiite minister, Fadi Makki (minister of state for administrative development), Aoun and Salam sought to prevent any single faction from monopolizing Shiite representation. In 2006, Hezbollah and Amal withdrew all Shiite ministers aligned with them from Fouad Siniora’s government, arguing that this deprived it of "confessional legitimacy." This government aims to prevent a similar scenario.
