AMMAN -- The Lebanese are looking at their next head of state, who will finally be elected in parliament on Sunday, as the godot they have been waiting for to pull the country out of the debris of a deep political crisis that threatened to plunge Lebanon into another civil war.
But arduous times lie ahead for the new president as he prepares to face many crucial issues.
Enormous posters and billboards of the sole presidential candidate, army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman, surrounded by the Lebanese flag, covered the walls and buildings of Beirut on Friday, calling him "the savior." Banners next to his pictures expressed wishes of "Congratulations to Lebanon."
Suleiman will be voted into office in a parliamentary session that media reports say will turn into a festival, where many Arab and international leaders will attend to witness and support a long-delayed process.
The election session will fall on the 8th anniversary of the liberation of south Lebanon from Israeli occupation, to which the Shiite Hezbollah organization, backed by Iran and Syria, was credited.
A nationwide speech by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah to mark the occasion was apparently postponed from Sunday to Monday, which was declared a national holiday, in what may be a gesture by the opposition to highlight attention on the election session.
The country has miraculously survived without a president for six months - since President Emile Lahoud's term expired last November - as pro-Western and anti-Western politicians wrangled over the make-up of the next government and a disputed electoral law.
Suleiman, however, was never disputed as the "consensus candidate."
The country's worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war gradually escalated since six ministers, including five Shiites, resigned from the cabinet 18 months ago, demanding more participation in government seats.
The problem erupted into six days of militia gun battles earlier this month, in which more than 65 people were killed, threatening an outbreak of an all-out civil war if it weren't for Arab intervention that ended the fighting and launched reconciliation talks in Qatar.
For many Lebanese, Suleiman is being revered as the leader who will usher in a new phase of peaceful co-existence in a multi-confessional system.
As the army's top commander, he succeeded in keeping the army united as he and his soldiers remained neutral during the polarization and occasional violence since the crisis effectively began to unfold with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005.
Suleiman's election on Sunday, after parliament failed to convene 19 times to vote, comes particularly as a relief to the Maronite Christians, who themselves have been divided along political lines between the pro-government forces and the Hezbollah-led opposition.
Filling a leadership seat allocated to a Maronite is expected to ease Christian fears of being politically marginalized by the powerful Shiite influence.
However, Lebanese analysts say electing Suleiman and his taking the oath of office will just be the beginning of the political rehabilitation of the country.
The army chief insisted that he alone cannot be "the savior," an ambitious title that entails difficult tasks that the Lebanese have placed on his shoulders.
In remarks to As-Safir daily on Friday, Suleiman said he will try to "play the role I had always carried out since I became army commander," but warned that he "cannot salvage the country single-handedly. This is everybody's task ... of civilians before politicians."
Suleiman's immediate job is to start consultations with the different parliamentary blocs to name the new prime minister, who will then begin forming the next cabinet.
According to the Doha accord, signed by the rivals on Wednesday, the new government will include 16 ruling majority members, 11 from the opposition, and three to be nominated by Suleiman. The interior minister, who represents internal security, will reportedly be an independent figure chosen by the president.
Reports from Beirut said the ruling majority have nominated MP Saad Hariri of the Future bloc for the position reserved for a Sunni, as well as incumbent Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. But Siniora insists he wants to be relieved of this responsibility.
The opposition had apparently given its agreement to any new prime minister during the Doha talks, only days after Hezbollah and allied Shiite Amal militias had fiercely clashed with Hariri's supporters.
Many analysts say the Doha pact had defused the crisis that may guarantee calm until next year's parliamentary elections, but did not resolve the core issues dividing the politicians, namely Hezbollah's weapons.
They warn that if the root causes of the friction, be they political or sectarian, are not seriously addressed, the country remains fertile for more crises to come.
But as the foreign minister of Lebanon's former colonialists, France's Bernard Kouchner, put it on Friday: "None of the essence [of the crisis] appears to have been resolved. Yet, it is better to have a president and a [functioning] government."
By Sana Abdallah
© Middle East Times 2008
