A New Breed In Lebanese Politics: Aounist Ministers
With 3 ministers in the new government and a vice-premiere, can the Free Patriotic Movement maintain its outsider image?
(Illustration by Beirut Spring, source image here)
Thanks to the official website of the FPM, we now know that in the upcoming cabinet will include Messrs. Issam Abu Jamra, Gebran Bassil, Mario Aoun and Elie Skaff as Vice Premiere, Minister for Telecommunications, Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Agriculture respectively. What we don’t know is what kind of ministers they will be.
Many of Mr. Aoun’s detractors always argued that his popularity is based on the fact that he never had to govern. Since he never assumed responsibility, the argument goes, he kept the image of the clean outsider. In other words, once Mr. Aoun joins the executive branch of the government, the halo will fade.
Mr. Aoun knows that, but he will try to have it both ways. He already pre-empted his critics by promising to behave as an “opposition within the government”, and his selection of portfolios shows that he’s staying away from potentially problematic ministries like Finance, Labor and the Economy. Still, the Vice Premiership and the telecommunications ministry can prove to be delicate, but he’ll definitely navigate them carefully.
The Aounist Minister will try to stay out of the light, but he (not she) will make the occasional grand gesture to show that he’s a different kind of ruler. And with such a short tenure, he could very well pull off that trick.
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5 comments for “A New Breed In Lebanese Politics: Aounist Ministers”
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Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.
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no one can do worse than the hariri-sanyoora theft mafia.
people in lebanon are denied electricity, clean water, a viable police force, a viable national defense, reliable & affordable medinice, affordable education, and affordable food by the u.s., who wants to punish them for not relenting to its will, and by sanyoora-hariri who stuff money in their pockets and in the pockets of their cornies. the lebanese people are being driven more and more to starvation and poverty conditions, but not as bad as what the u.s. (mutapha’s life-love) is doing to the people of gaza.
but one thing that the u.s. cannot do is make the people of lebanon and palestine relent (emphasis on people, not governments). the u.s. can make them suffer, but their will is stronger than the will of the u.s.
what can mustapha do? receive orders to propagate the u.s. policy. what can he & the u.s. achieve other than the suffering of the people? nothing.
Nicely fit site Mustapha :) the design looks great on Safari & Firefox.
Concerning todays post, I wouldn’t be too worried; I’m glad to see some optimist from your end on the current situation.
One of the important principles that keeps the ruling party honest is the fear that the opposition will be able to capitalize on its failure to deliver on its promises. But what we are just about to create in Lebanon is a cabinet that cannot be held responsible for anything. We have managed to create a system with no accountability. This creation cannot succeed.
[...] A New Breed In Lebanese Politics: Aounist Ministers: With 3 ministers in the new government and a vice-premiere, can the Free Patriotic Movement maintain its outsider image? [...]
[...] it’s because they never really got to navigate the labyrinth of governance in Lebanon, but Gebran Bassil, our new minister of Telecommunications [...]