A majority of Lebanon's parliament members backed the UN court's chief judge Salam as the new prime minister on Monday.
The recently elected President Joseph Aoun then decided to appoint Salam as prime minister.
Political Landscape
"The President of the Republic called upon Judge Nawaf Salam to entrust him with the task of forming a government", said the Lebanese presidential office in a statement.
Salam has previously been Lebanon's UN ambassador and vice chairman of the UN General Assembly.
Lebanon's new leadership is entering the changed political landscape in the country since the influence of the Iran-backed Islamist movement Hezbollah has decreased after the war against Israel.
For the experienced diplomat and jurist Salam, the difficult and complicated task of forming a government begins. President Aoun hoped on Monday evening that the process would be "frictionless and swift".
One of the parliament members who backed Salam, the independent Firas Hamdan, said that the choice was a "purely Lebanese initiative" without foreign interference.
He is a personality who reminds us of all the Lebanese who refuse to see more corruption and nepotism, said Hamdan.
Besides the first problem of creating a government that represents a divided Lebanon, Salam must also oversee the reconstruction of the extensive parts of Lebanon that were destroyed in the war.
Economic Reforms
He must also implement economic reforms to attract foreign donors and investors who have already fled the country since Lebanon's economy completely collapsed in the autumn of 2019.
Salam returns to Lebanon already on Tuesday. He will then work under Joseph Aoun, who was elected president of Lebanon on January 9 after two and a half years with a temporary government that has had limited powers.
