Cabinet of Nawaf Salam

Cabinet of Nawaf Salam
Cabinet of Lebanon
People and organisations
President	Joseph Aoun
Head of government	Nawaf Salam
Deputy head of government	TBD
No. of ministers	24
Total no. of members	24
History
Predecessor	Third Cabinet of Najib Mikati

The new government of Lebanon is being planned to be formed after the election of ICJ president Nawaf Salam as prime minister of Lebanon to succeed Najib Mikati's third cabinet which is currently at a caretaker capacity.

In the wake of the election of Joseph Aoun as president of Lebanon on 9 January 2025, multiple opposition MPs reached a consensus on nominating Salam as Prime Minister.^[1] His candidacy is supported by many Western and Arab states, who call for his nomination, against current caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati. The Hezbollah-led alliance backed Najib Mikati to maintain his premiership.^[2] Other candidates included Fouad Makhzoumi, who initially had the backing of opposition MPs, former Interior Minister Ashraf Rifi and Beirut MP Ibrahim Mneimneh.^[3] On 13 January 2025, Salam was nominated by 84 out of 128 MPs, making him the Prime Minister-designate of Lebanon.^[4] MPs from the Lebanese Forces, the Free Patriotic Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party, the National Compatibility Bloc, Tashnag, the Renewal Bloc, Islamic Group and the opposition nominated Salam, while MPs from Hezbollah and Amal did not nominate anyone as they were last to announce their vote while Salam had an absolute majority.^[5]

Hezbollah lawmakers attempted to postpone the election as they saw the momentum building behind Salam; this was rejected by Joseph Aoun. According to a source to Reuters, Hezbollah believed a political understanding had been reached on Mikati's election before the group agreed to elect Aoun the previous week.^[6] Hezbollah's parliamentary leader Mohammad Raad stated that Hezbollah "extended its hand" by helping to secure Aoun's election only to find the "hand cut off" accusing the opposition of fragmentation and exclusion from power in Lebanon.^[7] Salam and Aoun's election is seen as a manifestation of Hezbollah's diminished influence in Lebanese politics, partly due to the group's losses in the recent conflict with Israel and the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.^[8][9]