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.