Prime Minister of Lebanon in the context of "National Pact"

Solidere s.a.l. is a Lebanese joint-stock company in charge of planning and redeveloping Beirut Central District following the conclusion, in 1990, of the Lebanese Civil War. By agreement with the government, Solidere has special powers of eminent domain as well as a limited regulatory authority codified in law, making the company a form of public-private partnership.

Solidere was founded on 5 May 1994 under the authority of the Council of Development and Reconstruction and following the vision of then-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Solidere was incorporated as a privately owned company listed on the stock exchange. The name stands for Société Libanaise pour le Développement et la Reconstruction du Centre-ville de Beyrouth, French for "The Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District".

On 14 February 2005, former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri was assassinated along with 21 others in an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. Explosives equivalent to around 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove near the St. George Hotel. Among the dead were several of Hariri's bodyguards and former Minister of Economy and Trade, Bassel Fleihan.

Hariri had been part of the anti-Assad opposition in Lebanon. His assassination triggered the Cedar Revolution, a popular movement which forced Syria to withdraw all its troops in Lebanon by April 2005. The United Nations set up the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to investigate the killing, which along with an independent investigation carried out by Lebanese Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan, found compelling evidence that Hezbollah carried out the assassination. One of the investigators, Wissam Eid, was assassinated in 2008.

Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri (Arabic: رفيق بهاء الدين الحريري, romanized: Rafīq Bahāʾ ad-Dīn al-Ḥarīrī; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004.

Hariri headed five cabinets during his tenure. He was widely credited for his role in constructing the Taif Agreement that ended the 15-year Lebanese Civil War. He also played a huge role in reconstructing the Lebanese capital, Beirut. He was the first post-civil war prime minister and the most influential and wealthiest Lebanese politician at the time. During Hariri's first term as prime minister, tensions between Israel and Lebanon increased, as a result of the Qana massacre. In 2000, during his second premiership, his biggest achievement was the Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon, ending an 18-year old occupation, while his government solidified relations with Ba'athist Syria.

Lebanon is a parliamentary democratic republic within the overall framework of confessionalism, a form of consociationalism in which the highest offices are proportionately reserved for representatives from certain religious communities. The constitution of Lebanon grants the people the right to change their government. However, from the mid-1970s until the parliamentary elections in 1992, the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) precluded the exercise of political rights.

According to the constitution, direct elections must be held for the parliament every four years. However, after the parliamentary election in 2009 another election was not held until 2018. The Parliament elects a president every six years to a single term. The president is not eligible for re-election. The last presidential election was in 2025. The president and parliament choose the prime minister.

The Lebanese Parliament (Arabic: مجلس النواب, romanized: Majlis an-Nuwwab, lit. 'House of Representatives') is the unicameral national parliament of the Republic of Lebanon. There are 128 members elected to a four-year term in multi-member constituencies, apportioned among Lebanon's diverse Christian and Muslim denominations but with half of the seats reserved for Christians and half for Muslims per Constitutional Article 24. Lebanon has universal adult suffrage. The parliament's major functions are to elect the President of the republic, to approve the government (although appointed by the President, the Prime Minister, along with the Cabinet, must retain the confidence of a majority in the Parliament), and to approve laws and expenditure.

The Parliament was most recently elected on 15 May 2022. While terms are four years long, parliaments are able to extend the own terms: the parliament elected in June 2009 did so on three separate occasions, delaying the next election until May 2018 while a new electoral law was prepared. According to the Lebanese constitution and the electoral law of 2017, elections are held on a Sunday during the 60 days preceding the end of the sitting parliament's mandate, with the next one due on a Sunday falling between 22 March 2026 and 22 May 2026.