Media reports that Lebanese leaders are eager to wrap up the nomination process quickly so they don’t have a vacuum during these difficult times

DUBAI • Lebanon’s political leaders are expected to launch parliamentary consultations to choose a new prime minister (PM) after Hassan Diab’s government resigned on Monday over the devastating explosion at Beirut’s port.

The nomination process by Parliament’s various factions will be a litmus test of whether the Aug 4 port disaster marks an inflection point in Lebanese politics, or a continuation of decades of corrupt, inept rule.

One name being bandied about in the media is Nawaf Salam, a former ambassador to the United Nations who currently serves as a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. His candidacy could go some way to reassuring an outraged Lebanese public demanding an end to the graft and sectarianism that have crippled their country. Diab’s predecessor, Saad Hariri, who governed for three years until January 2020, has said he doesn’t want to be PM again at this point.

Local media reported that Lebanese leaders — who in the past have kept the country rudderless for months while they bickered over a candidate — are eager to wrap up the nomination process quickly so they don’t have a vacuum during these difficult times. The blast, which killed at least 160 people and left a trail of destruction across miles of Beirut, came atop the country’s worst political and financial crisis in decades.

Diab will continue in a caretaker capacity until a new governing coalition is formed. It’s not clear how long that will take in a nation where political divisions mean talks can drag out for months, or whether a caretaker government could conclude any deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout or secure international aid.

“Each minister gave it their all,” he said. “But some people only care about scoring political points. Their corruption has led to this disaster.”

Diab has failed to deliver on the demands of protesters who have taken to the streets since October seeking change, nor had he advanced talks with donor countries and the IMF for billions of dollars in aid that a country drowning in debt so badly needs.

Anger has surged in a nation already grimly familiar with decades of governmental malfeasance as it coped with the aftermath of a blast caused by 2,750 tonnes of explosive materials left for six years at the country’s main port, in spite of repeated safety warnings.

“We need to move forward with the reforms, structural reforms, not just normal reforms,” said Yassine Jaber, member of the Lebanese Parliament. “There has been resistance in the political scene for implementing these reforms. I think from here onwards, if this resistance persists, I think the country cannot delay doing these reforms anymore and a total collapse is on the cards,” he said on a Bloomberg TV interview yesterday.

Even before the explosion, the government was barely functioning, unable to regularly collect trash or keep electricity flowing, let alone haul the country out of its worst crisis since the 15-year civil war ended in 1990. — Bloomberg