The binding parliamentary consultations held in Beirut today, Monday, decided the parliamentary majority in favor of naming the President of the International Court of Justice, Nawaf Salam, as Prime Minister of Lebanon, after he received 70 votes.

Parliamentary consultations in Lebanon began at eight o'clock this morning, Monday, from Baabda Palace overlooking the capital Beirut, to name a person who will be entrusted with forming a new government, four days after the election of Joseph Aoun as president of the country, after a two-year presidential vacuum, during which Lebanon witnessed major challenges.

The first round of binding parliamentary consultations conducted by President Aoun to name the prime minister-designate to form the government ended with 12 votes for Nawaf Salam, while Prime Minister Najib Mikati received 8 votes if MP Jamil Sayyed’s vote for Mikati was counted, while one vote was recorded without naming.

Since the date of the binding consultations was set, which will take place in two stages, before and after noon, political forces have circulated the names of a number of candidates for the position, which in Lebanon is held by a person from the Sunni sect.

The candidates include caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, anti-Hezbollah MP Fouad Makhzoumi, and former ambassador Nawaf Salam, whose name has been circulating in recent hours.

After opposition forces, including the Lebanese Forces bloc and other small blocs, announced on Saturday their decision to nominate MP Fouad Makhzoumi to head the government, opposition and independent MPs announced their support for the nomination of Judge Nawaf Salam, a veteran diplomat who is respected in Lebanon and whose name is put forward in any parliamentary consultations.

The Strong Lebanon bloc, which has 13 deputies, the Democratic Gathering bloc, which has 8 deputies, and the Sunni-majority Moderation bloc joined the opposition, the reformists, and the independents by nominating Salam.

It was reported that Druze leader Walid Jumblatt called President Najib Mikati and told him: "I apologize to you, this time it is not a competition."

The Loyalty to the Resistance bloc requested that its appointment be postponed from today to tomorrow, but President Aoun refused the postponement. If the prime minister-designate does not receive any votes from the Shiite deputies, some may raise the issue of the national charter and the issue of Shiite representation in the next government.

Nawaf Salam is a Lebanese judge, diplomat and academic, born in 1953. He served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations for 10 years, and represented his country in the UN Security Council.

In 2018, he was elected as a judge in the International Court of Justice, and on February 6, 2024, he was elected as President of this court for a period of 3 years, following the end of the term of American Judge Joan E. Donoghue, and he became the second Arab to hold this position after the former Algerian Foreign Minister Mohamed Bedjaoui.