Lebanon’s leader leaves the building
Leebanon president Michel Aoun vacated his palace on Sunday, leaving a void at the top of a failing state.
Aoun, 89, presided over Lebanon’s cataclysmic financial meltdown and a deadly Beirut port blast in August 2020.
Parliament has not yet agreed on a successor in the role, which has the power to sign bills into law, appoint new prime ministers and green-light government formations before they are voted on by parliament.
As it has been for more than half of Aoun’s time in office, Lebanon is governed by a caretaker cabinet as the premierdesignate has been trying for six months to form a government.
Supporters gathered at Baabda Palace to say farewell to Aoun, wearing the orange associated with his Free Patriotic Movement party and carrying portraits of him.
Therese Younes, a 16-year-old who had come with other teenagers, said she had backed Aoun since she was eight and was sad to see him go.
“If I was 18 I would have left the country. There’s no Lebanon after Aoun,” she said.
Aoun is a deeply divisive figure, adored by Christians who viewed him as their defender in Lebanon’s sectarian system but accused by critics of enabling corruption and empowering armed group Hezbollah.
Aoun secured the presidency in 2016, endorsed by Hezbollah and rival Maronite Christian politician Samir Geagea in a deal that brought then-leading Sunni politician Saad al-hariri back as prime minister.
His six-year term saw Lebanon’s army fight off Islamist militants on the Syrian border in 2017 with Hezbollah’s help, a new electoral law passed in 2018 and top energy companies begin exploratory drilling in offshore blocks in 2020.
In his final week in the palace, he signed a Us-mediated deal delineating Lebanon’s southern maritime border with Israel.
His fans have hailed those achievements but his critics say they pale next to the 2019 financial meltdown, which has plunged 80% of the population into poverty.
The blast at the Beirut port in 2020 killed more than 220 people. Aoun later said he had known about the chemicals stored there and referred the file to other authorities to take action. Victims’ families said he should have done more.
He said on Saturday that his powers were not wide enough to address the economic crisis.
“He was by far the worst president in Lebanon’s history,” said Michel Meouchi, a lawyer and father. “I prefer a void in the presidency to him.”
In the 1975-1990 civil war, Aoun served as commander of Lebanon’s army and head of one of two rival governments.
He returned after 15 years in exile, once Syrian forces withdrew after the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-hariri.