Lebanon’s PM-Designate Steps Down, Failing to Form New Government

Lebanese Prime Minister-Designate Mustapha Adib announced his voluntary resignation to the country in a televised address on September 26, less than a month after assuming the post. Adib’s attempts to form a new government fell through due to a political stalemate that resulted in part from demands by Shia groups for greater influence in the government.

Following the devastating explosion on August 4 that killed close to 200 people and left thousands homeless in Beirut, Lebanon’s previous government caved to the demands of protestors and disbanded. The country’s political leadership tapped Abid on August 31 to lead the creation of a new government, an initiative backed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Adib’s decision to step down arose from his unwillingness to head up a cabinet that he considered “bound to fail.” Although the short-serving PM-Designate enjoyed the vocal support of President Macron and the backing of a majority of the Lebanese Parliament, he faced opposition from Hezbollah and the Amal movement, two powerful Shia forces in the region. Negotiations to form a new cabinet eventually broke down over the Shia coalition’s demand that it select Lebanon’s next finance minister.

The initial reactions to the political impasse and Adib’s subsequent resignation have been highly critical. French President Emmanuel Macron, who has visited Lebanon twice since the explosion and has taken an active role in revitalizing the state’s internal affairs, sharply rebuked the country’s leaders. He specifically accused them of pursuing “partisan and individual interests to the detriment of the general interest of the country.” Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri echoed Macron’s dissatisfaction, cautioning that “those who applaud the collapse of French President Emmanuel Macron's initiative” would “bite your fingers in regret.”

The consequences of the Lebanese leadership’s inability to broker a solution to the gridlock may prove dire. It could take the small Eastern Mediterranean country years to fully rebuild following the destruction of the explosion, which the World Bank estimates caused 4.6 billion dollars in damages to infrastructure alone. Furthermore, the recovery process has become more difficult in light of Lebanon’s collapsed currency, soaring unemployment, and worsening poverty levels. Crucially, if Lebanon remains unable to form a government, it will miss opportunities to secure foreign aid desperately needed to piece Beirut back together.

In response to PM-Designate Adib’s sudden resignation, Macron, whose country governed Lebanon from the end of WWI until the country’s independence in 1943, will likely ratchet up pressure on the country’s elites to break through the political impasse and reach a resolution. While a successor to Adib’s has not yet surfaced, the continued influence of Shia actors such as Hezbollah in Lebanese politics will likely lead to struggles over the composition of the future government.