Beirut, Lebanon – The appointment of Nawaf Salam, the president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as prime minister of Lebanon has many Lebanese feeling optimistic.
His success in securing enough votes in parliament on Monday caps off a rapid period of political change after Joseph Aoun was elected president last week, filling a position that had been vacant since 2022.
Aoun designated Salam to form a government on Monday, and he could serve as prime minister at the very least until Lebanon’s next parliamentary elections in 2026.
His victory is seen as a boon for the pro-reform movement, having come after Salam’s failure to secure enough votes in 2022, losing the premiership to the man he is now replacing, Najib Mikati.
The reform movement, which took to the streets in mass protests that began on October 17, 2019, sees Salam as a man who can speak for them. While he is a member of a prominent Beiruti family, he has not held political office domestically and has instead reached prominent positions abroad.
“He represents the aspirations of the October 17 movement,” Dalal Mawad, a Lebanese journalist and author, told Al Jazeera. “This is a man who has a very clear political vision and beliefs.”
Salam made his priorities clear in his first speech as prime minister-designate on Tuesday.
“We have wasted many opportunities to build the state,” he said. “Enough wasted opportunities.”
Experience abroad
Born in Beirut in 1953, Salam started his career as an academic and lecturer at universities, including the American University of Beirut (AUB), the Sorbonne in Paris and Harvard University in the United States.
He served from 2007 to 2017 as Lebanon’s ambassador to the United Nations, where he would “craft foreign policy when Lebanon had none”, said Mawad, who interned for Salam during his UN tenure.
A lawyer and a judge, Salam joined the ICJ in 2018, and in 2024, he was made its president. He presided over South Africa’s ongoing case that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful. He also worked on UN resolutions, including 1701, which is the basis for the current ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
Friends and former colleagues of Salam described him as humble, an intellectual and someone intimately familiar with the inner workings – and flaws – of the Lebanese political system.
Karim Emile Bitar, a political analyst who knows Salam, described the prime minister-designate as a staunch believer in the rights of the Palestinian people, Lebanon’s Arab identity, Lebanese national unity and “a new social contract on the basis of democratic citizenship rather than confessionalism”.
Confessionalism is a reference to the country’s political system, which divides positions of power by religious sect. Salam, as a Sunni Muslim, is eligible for the office of prime minister but not of president, which is reserved for Maronite Christians.
“He is truly a man of integrity,” Hilal Khashan, a political scientist who worked with Salam at AUB, told Al Jazeera. “He understands the Lebanese political system needs to be reformed, and for him, the issues of accountability and transparency and responsibility mean a great deal.”
Multiple people interviewed said Salam’s government programme would likely focus on reforming the political system, ensuring accountability for crimes in Lebanon – including the August 4, 2020, Beirut port explosion and the banking crisis – and defending the independence of Lebanon’s judiciary.
“He’s always been in reform, change and progressive movements, and I hope he will be successful in transforming all that into a political platform,” Ziad Majed, a political scientist, told Al Jazeera.
A change?
Salam may come from a family that includes two former prime ministers, but he is largely seen as a technocrat.
While other technocrats have been appointed to Lebanese government positions in the past, experts said regional events – including the ceasefire between the Shia militia Hezbollah and Israel, the weakening of Iran and the fall of Bashar al-Assad‘s regime in Syria – have changed the political realities in Lebanon.
Iran’s and al-Assad’s influence in the country has waned, and support from Western and Gulf states, which had long tempered their relations and support for Lebanon due to Hezbollah’s powerful role in the country, seems to be on the ascendancy.
The very ascension of Salam and Aoun to their new roles is seen as evidence of the weakening of Hezbollah, which had wanted figures regarded as more supportive of the group to assume those positions.
Salam and Aoun may choose to take advantage of Hezbollah’s weakness after the group lost most of its leadership in the war against Israel, including its longtime head Hassan Nasrallah.
In his speech on Tuesday, Salam said his hands were “extended to everyone”, including Hezbollah, after members of the group reacted negatively to the new prime minister’s nomination.
It is unclear whether Hezbollah and its allies will allow Salam to make the reforms he feels are necessary for Lebanon or will push back against decisions they may feel weaken Lebanon’s resolve against Israel or bring it into a pro-West regional camp.
For now, Salam believes he is in a position to implement his desired national agenda.
“He was very keen on having these conditions because he wouldn’t take this job if it was set up for him to fail,” Mawad said. “He knows Lebanon like no one else.”