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ICJ chief Salam emerges with enough votes to be PM

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Choice underlines shift in Lebanon's power balance

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Hezbollah MPs arrive late to meeting with Aoun

(Adds Hezbollah comment in paragraph 3, lawmaker comment in

paragraph 10)

By Laila Bassam and Tom Perry

BEIRUT, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Nawaf Salam, the head of the

International Court of Justice, won enough support to become

Lebanon's next prime minister after a majority of lawmakers

backed him for the post on Monday, a big blow to Hezbollah which

accused opponents of working to exclude it.

The support for Salam underlined the major shift in the

power balance among Lebanon's sectarian factions since the

Shi'ite group Hezbollah was pummelled in a war with Israel last

year, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad was toppled.

Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad, whose Iran-backed

group had wanted incumbent Najib Mikati to stay in the post,

said Hezbollah's opponents were working for fragmentation and

exclusion. He said the group had "extended its hand" by electing

Joseph Aoun as president last week only to find the "hand cut".

Last week's election of army commander General Aoun, who

enjoys the support of the United States and Saudi Arabia, was

another sign of shifts in the political landscape, in which

Hezbollah had long held decisive sway.

Aoun, a Maronite Christian, was holding consultations over

the choice of prime minister with parliament's 128 lawmakers on

Monday. He is obliged to pick the candidate with the greatest

number of votes.

Salam had secured the backing of 85 of the lawmakers by

Monday afternoon, with the consultations yet to conclude.

The prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim according to

Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system which parcels out state

positions on the basis of religious affiliation. The presidency

goes to a Maronite Christian and the speaker of parliament must

be a Shi'ite Muslim.

Hezbollah lawmakers attended their meeting with Aoun later

than scheduled, delaying their arrival as they saw the momentum

building behind Salam, a Hezbollah source said.

Hezbollah believed a political understanding had been

reached on Mikati's election before the group agreed to elect

Aoun last week, the source said.

CHALLENGES AHEAD

Sunni and Christian allies of Hezbollah were among those who

named Salam. Faisal Karami, a Sunni lawmaker aligned with the

group, said he had nominated Salam, citing demands for "change

and renewal" and Arab and international support for Lebanon.

Aoun's election and the designation of a new premier are

steps towards reviving Lebanese government institutions which

have been paralysed for more than two years, with the country

having neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet.

The new administration faces huge tasks including rebuilding

areas levelled by Israeli airstrikes during the war with

Hezbollah, and launching long-stalled reforms to revive the

economy and address the root causes of the collapse of Lebanon's

financial system in 2019.

In his former role as commander of the U.S.-backed army,

Aoun played a critical role in the implementation of a

U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah.

The terms require the Lebanese army to deploy into south

Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.

Raad said Hezbollah would follow the next steps, and

"proceed with calm and wisdom, out of concern for the national

interest, and we will see their actions ... to expel the

occupier from our land".