The Transition Man

Najib Mikati has added his name to the list of Great Lebanese.


When Najib Mikati volunteered to fill in the gap in this complicated transitional period, everyone was skeptical. This blog trusted him, but his promises seemed too good to be true. He was to manage free and fair elections, sack the entrenched heads of security, and facilitate an international inquiry into the murder of martyr Rafik Hariri.

All this was to be done at a period were the Syrians were still too influential. To make things even more complicated, he had to give the impression of impartiality, that he was neither a loyalist nor an oppositionist.

He pulled it off by fading his ego into the background. First by not standing for a guaranteed seat in the elections, and second by focusing all the energies of his cabinet on execution and day-to-day issues. All beef but no sizzle.

Have we seen the end of Najib Mikati’s political career?
It is too early to judge, but the ascendancy of the Future Movement gives him no option but to join them. He has shown a lot of signs that he is willing to, and he could fill a large vacuum. Did you guess which vacuum? The one between the very old old-guard (Seniora, Tabbara..etc) and the very young new-guard (Saad & Co.)
Mr. Mikati seems to be destined to be a transition man.
He can also be their man for the North. I personally like him much more than Samir el Jisr.

As Najib Mikati hands the keys of the Grand Seraille to Fouad Seniora, he can be a proud man. Although he’ll never be Prime Minister again, History will always remember him as the rare Lebanese politician who had the dignity to gracefully bow out.

You make Tripoli and Lebanon proud.
Thank you