Saad Hariri is officially Lebanon’s prime minister-designate, as of October 22nd, just a year after his resignation amid October 17’s uprising, winning a slim majority of votes in parliament.
Hariri received the lowest number of votes approving his appointment in comparison to his former nominations. His surprising return was put in action by the votes of 65 MPs from across Lebanon’s political spectrum, including his own Future Movement.
Other political parties that voted for Hariri were the Shia Amal Movement of Nabih Berri, the Druze Progressive Socialist Party of Walid Jumblatt, and the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party.
MPs affiliated with Najib Mikati and Sleiman Frangieh were also among those who nominated him.
However, the people who voted against this decision numbered at 53. The political parties also came from different backgrounds and groups.
As expected, neither of the two main Christian parties of the country nominated Hariri: Samir Geagea’s Lebanese Forces, a former Hariri ally, and its rival Gebran Bassil’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM).
The Consultative Gathering bloc of six Sunni MPs, which has earlier announced that it will not support Hariri’s designation, kept to its stance and did not nominate him.
The Iranian backed Hezbollah party also did not vote for Hariri. Weirdly enough, they have been among the most enthusiastic party for his return since his resignation on October 29th last year.
All in all, Saad Hariri received the smallest number of votes in parliament compared with Diab’s 69 and Adib’s 90.