Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s prime minister, announced in a televised speech on Monday that he would not run for re-election in the country’s upcoming elections, which are currently scheduled for May 15.

Mikati’s departure is likely to throw Lebanon’s politics further into disarray. According to the country’s complicated sectarian power-sharing system, Mikati’s successor as prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim, but the head of Lebanon’s most influential Sunni party, Saad Hariri, also announced his retirement and the dissolution of his political bloc in January. A third potential candidate, former Prime Minister Tammam Salam, indicated he would not run, creating a major void in the country’s Sunni leadership and stoking fears that Sunnis would boycott the vote if a clear favorite candidate did not emerge.

In his remarks, Mikati urged Sunnis not to boycott the election and called on all Lebanese citizens to vote and to have confidence in the political process. He indicated that his retirement would “provide room for the new generation,” encouraging younger Lebanese to seek political office and enact change. He also vowed that he would continue to work toward restoring stability in Lebanon for the remainder of his term.

Originally a businessman with a net worth of roughly $2.5 billion—making him by most accounts the richest man in Lebanon—Mikati entered politics in 1998 when he was appointed as Lebanon’s minister of public works and transport. In 2000, he was elected to parliament; five years later, he became prime minister, the highest office possible for Sunni Muslims to achieve under the Lebanese power-sharing system.

Although his initial premiership lasted only three months, Mikati served a second term as prime minister from 2011 to 2014 and was re-appointed to the office after the resignation of his predecessor, Hassan Diab, in mid-2021. After initially agreeing to step down in August 2020 after an ammonium nitrate explosion devastated downtown Beirut, Diab went on to hold his post for an additional year as power-sharing negotiations took place.

Lebanon’s upcoming election is the first to take place since the country’s financial meltdown in late 2019, which led to a wave of unprecedented cross-sectarian protests. Lebanese officials have cited the vote as essential to restoring public trust in the government, which most polling suggests has been at an all-time low since the financial crisis and the explosion.

Due to the financial crisis, more than 75 percent of Lebanon lives below the poverty line, and the country has dealt with an influx of refugees from neighboring Syria, further stretching its limited resources.

Trevor Filseth is a current and foreign affairs writer for the National Interest.

Image: Reuters.