Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri summoned MPs to a plenary session on Tuesday, Feb. 25, and Wednesday, Feb. 26, for a vote of confidence in the new cabinet formed by Nawaf Salam, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

This announcement comes after the drafting of the ministerial declaration "which is based 80 percent on the Taif Agreement and 20 percent on the inaugural speech" delivered by President Joseph Aoun when he was elected, said Information Minister Paul Morcos.

The ministerial declaration was revealed on Monday after a week-long drafting process led by a special committee composed of Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri, Finance Minister Yassine Jaber (Amal), Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh, Transport and Public Works Minister Fayez Rassamni, and Industry Minister Joe Issa al-Khoury, and chaired by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

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The ministerial declaration is the government's first political test. It is based on this statement that Parliament will decide whether or not to grant confidence to the new cabinet, which must obtain a majority of favorable votes out of the 128 MPs.

In the past, the general outlines of the ministerial declaration were usually known in advance, but the political situation, with the weakening of Hezbollah and the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, could change the situation this time.

The question of removing the “Army, people, resistance” formula supported by Hezbollah from the statement is expected to be at the heart of the debate, as the president promised in his inaugural speech in January to address the issue of the party's weapons. According to the few elements that have leaked from this ministerial declaration, the principle that the Lebanese state must "hold the monopoly on weapons" is reaffirmed, as well as the "liberation of the entire Lebanese territory," in a context where the Israeli army announced its intention to maintain positions in five areas in south Lebanon.