BEIRUT: Lebanese politician Tammam Salam, a former minister from a prominent Sunni Muslim political dynasty, emerged as a potential new prime minister yesterday when he was endorsed by the country’s pro-Western March 14 coalition.
Lebanon faces a parliamentary election in June but was plunged into uncertainty two weeks ago by the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, after a dispute over the electoral law and an extension to the term of a top security official. Mikati, who had called for a “national salvation” government to ensure stability in a country shaken by the conflict in neighbouring Syria, said yesterday he would not put his name forward again because he could not win consensus backing.
Salam — a Sunni Muslim as all prime ministers must be under Lebanon’s confessional distribution of power — is the son of a former prime minister. His grandfather served under the Ottoman Empire and the French colonial mandate.
He won endorsement from March 14, which has 60 seats in the 128-seat parliament, at a meeting of the political alliance in central Beirut after a lightning trip to Saudi Arabia for talks with March 14’s leader, former prime minister Saad Al Hariri.
March 14 groups mainly Sunni and Christian parties which pushed, with US and European support, for Syria to end nearly three decades of military presence in Lebanon in 2005.
REUTERS
