Lebanon’s new President Joseph Aoun vowed to take control of all arms outside state authority and fully implement the ceasefire deal with Israel in his inaugural speech on Thursday.
The military commander-turned-president got 99 votes in a parliamentary session on Thursday, more than the 86 votes he needed to win. His election as Lebanon’s 14th president comes after more than a two-year stalemate, which has seen many state institutions in caretaker capacity or vacant.
After taking oath, Aoun, 61, made a speech many Lebanese have deemed as promising – and very ambitious – as he said he will work to end corruption, interference in the country’s judiciary, and impunity for criminals. He also said he would end the smuggling of arms and drugs and begin reconstructing what was destroyed by Israel in its last war on Lebanon.
"My pledge is to cooperate with the new government to approve the judicial independence bill, and to challenge any law that violates the constitution, and call for parliamentary consultations as soon as possible to choose a prime minister who will be a partner and not an adversary," Aoun said from parliament, interrupted by rounds of applause from the attendees.
The session was observed by diplomats, including the ambassadors of countries which have in recent days exerted enormous pressure on Lebanon’s political establishment to reach a consensus and end the deadlock.
"I will also work to confirm the state’s right to monopolise the carrying of weapons," he said. This part of his speech especially received a warm welcome from rivals of Hezbollah, which has come out battered from the war with Israel.
Hezbollah’s arsenal has long been a major point of contention in Lebanon, with the group’s rivals saying it was impossible to state-build as long as armed groups exist in the country. The group has long said it would give up its arms when the Lebanese army was capable of defending the country against Israeli threats.
Aoun did not name Hezbollah in his speech, but his vows to respect international resolutions and implement the ceasefire deal were enough to signal his intentions.
The US-brokered agreement came into effect on 27 November, and Israel, Lebanon, and Hezbollah all have 60 days – until late January – to implement the deal.
Israel has carried out hundreds of violations, with fears that it may seek to remain in parts of southern Lebanon even after the 60-day deadline is over.
Beirut is responsible for making sure no weapons outside state control exist in southern Lebanon, particularly south of the Litani River where UN peacekeepers operate alongside the Lebanese army. Arms everywhere else across the country must also be confiscated, and borders must be strictly monitored.
Since the war ended, some of Lebanon’s main entry points such as its only civilian airport and the Port of Beirut have seen stringent measures with extraordinary security checks taking place.
Aoun said a "complete defence strategy on diplomatic, economic, and military levels" will be negotiated, one that "enables the Lebanese state to remove the Israeli occupation [from the south] and deter its aggression".
He promised to work on strengthening the Lebanese army, long underequipped.
"We will invest in the military to control and stabilise the borders in the south and demarcate them in the east and north" with Syria, he said, extending his hand out to the interim authorities in Damascus which ousted Bashar al-Assad’s regime a month ago.
The president called for the start of a "serious and friendly dialogue with the Syrian state to discuss relations and all outstanding issues between us," especially with regard to missing Lebanese citizens in Syria – many of whom are believed to have been kidnapped by Assad’s forces during the former Syrian military’s occupation of Lebanon – and Syrian refugees in Lebanon, which make up about a third of the country’s population.
The new president spoke of restructuring Lebanon’s inflated public sector and rotating jobs, in a patronage system largely based on clientelism where corruption has become rampant.
Also on internal matters, Aoun stressed change in the way politics works in Lebanon, vowing to uphold the constitution and saying, "My pledge is to the Lebanese, wherever they are, and for the whole world, to hear that today a new phase in Lebanon’s history has begun."
"Interference in the judiciary is forbidden, and there will be no immunity for criminals or corrupt individuals. There is no place for mafias, drug trafficking, or money laundering in Lebanon," the president added.
Lebanon was placed on the grey list by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force in October after several warnings to the political class to carry out much-needed fiscal reforms. These calls have fallen on deaf ears.
A cash economy has flourished in Lebanon after its banking sector collapsed in 2019, with fears and accusations that this was allowing for widescale money laundering. Failing to carry out reforms could place Lebanon on the blacklist, alongside countries like Iran, Myanmar, and North Korea.
The financial crisis has seen Lebanese locked out of their lifelong savings, with many unable to afford even necessities amid a crumbling infrastructure.
Aoun said he would "adhere to the free economy, and we need banks where the governor is the rule of law," as he said he would work to protect the assets of depositors. He pledged to push the next government to work on laws that will enforce administrative decentralisation, something stipulated in Lebanon’s constitution but never implemented.
The president's prerogatives in Lebanon remain somewhat limited, as constitutional amendments in 1989 to end the Civil War gave more powers to the legislative and executive branches of government. This power structure shared between the country's rivals, has resulted in decades of dysfunctional governance.