Lebanon’s new government wins confidence vote in parliament

Following Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s speech, which pledged to push for economic reforms and to begin negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, Lebanon’s new government has won a confidence vote in parliament.

Salam’s government won the backing of 95 lawmakers in the 128-seat chamber late on Wednesday.

Lebanon’s political landscape has been overturned since Hezbollah, long a dominant player in Lebanese politics, was badly pummeled in last year’s war with Israel.

The new government’s policy statement, as such, did not include language used in previous years that was seen as legitimising a role for Hezbollah in defending Lebanon.

We want a state with the power to make war and peace decisions, one that is faithful to the constitution and one that upholds the law, and one that upholds the constitution’s requirements, according to Salam in front of the legislature.

Hezbollah’s senior lawmaker, Mohammed Raad, addressed a speech on Tuesday in which the organization endorsed the government.

Before the vote, Salam declared, “We will work on removing Lebanon from the grey list and launching discussions with the International Monetary Fund.” “We will put depositors at the top of our priorities”.

Lebanon’s new administration is made up of political outsiders and presented its agenda to a parliament “still dominated by parties blamed for nearly bankrupting the country”, said Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.

“It’s a different time, and follows Hezbollah’s 14-month conflict with Israel and the fall of Bashar al-Assad in neighboring Syria, which closed supply routes from Iran”, said Khodr.

Hezbollah is not the only legitimate armed force that the new government has authorized, according to the new government. A post-Hezbollah era is being established”.

Beyond issues of security, the new government is going to have to deal with extensive reconstruction, as well as a battered economy and financial sector, among other challenges, Khodr added.

Lebanon’s financial system has been in crisis since 2019 when it was forced to resurrect due to the collapse of the country’s financial system, which resulted in a sovereign default in 2020 and a freeze on ordinary depositors’ bank accounts.

Following an unusually direct US intervention in the formation of a new government on February 8, the nation underwent a step that aims to bring the nation closer to receiving reconstruction funds following the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.