Hezbollah-backed candidate on course to be Lebanese PM

Former minister Hassan Diab looks set to be named Lebanon’s new prime minister on Thursday with backing from the Iran-backed group Hezbollah and its allies, a move that could complicate Lebanon’s efforts to secure badly needed Western financial aid.

Lebanon, wrestling with the worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war, has been in dire need of a new government since outgoing Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resigned on Oct. 29, prompted by protests against the ruling elite.

But efforts to agree a new premier and government have been mired in divisions that reflect tensions between Hariri, who is aligned with Western and Gulf Arab states, and the heavily armed Hezbollah, which is under US sanctions and listed as a terrorist group by Washington.

Hariri had been expected to be nominated prime minister in Thursday’s consultation but withdrew his candidacy on Wednesday night.

He had said he would only return as prime minister of a government of specialists which he believed would be able to secure Western support and satisfy protesters who have been demonstrating against rampant state corruption.

President Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally who has also been at political loggerheads with Hariri, began consultations on Thursday with deputies to designate the new premier, who must be a Sunni Muslim in Lebanon’s sectarian system.

Aoun, a Maronite Christian, is required to designate the candidate with greatest support.

While Diab’s candidacy looked set to win the backing of a majority - Hezbollah and its allies won 2018 elections - it failed to secure the backing of Hariri, who did not name anyone for the position.

Elie Ferzli, the deputy parliament speaker and a political ally of Hezbollah, was the first lawmaker to declare support for Diab, an engineer and academic at the American University of Beirut.

But while Ferzli said Diab’s nomination took “into account some of the basic prerequisites wanted by the people”, calling him an “academic and person of integrity”, former prime minister Najib Mikati said he was not up to the job.

“I don’t want to deflate the hopes of Lebanese but I am sceptical that any of the proposed names could shoulder (the responsibility) during this period,” Mikati, who had backed Hariri for the post, said.

Diab served as education minister in one of Mikati’s governments.

After announcing Hezbollah’s support for Diab, Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammad Raad said the group had extended the hand of cooperation “for the sake of the country”.

Mohanad Hage Ali, a fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, said political tensions could lead to unrest between Shi’ite supporters of Hezbollah and Amal on the one hand, and Sunni supporters of Hariri on the other.

“The lack of Hariri support means that it is a polarizing government, which means it is less likely they will see (foreign) support,” he said.