BEIRUT - Nagib Miqati, who was named Friday to head the next Lebanese government due to oversee crucial elections by the end of May, is a wealthy businessman with close ties to Syria.
A majority of MPs consulted by President Emile Lahoud picked the 49-year-old moderate Sunni Muslim MP after weeks of political haggling, heralding a possible end to a two-month political crisis.
A family friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Miqati is a political opponent of outgoing prime minister Omar Karameh in their native northern port city of Tripoli.
Miqati was named in mandatory consultations to find a new premier after 46 days of failed efforts, amid strong pressure from the opposition and the international community not to delay crucial elections.
Opposition MPs, who have been leading a campaign to end Syria's military and political domination of the country, opted to name Miqati in order to guarantee that the Damascus-backed regime holds crucial elections on time.
The opposition said Miqati, viewed as "less provocative" than other pro-Syrian candidates, was named after he pledged to meet opposition demands to hold elections on time but not run himself, and to sack security chiefs and the public prosecutor.
The opposition has blamed the pro-Syrian regime and political masters in Damascus for the February 14 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri which plunged the country into crisis.
The tall, soft-spoken politican enjoys the backing of powerful Maronite outgoing Interior Minister Sleiman Frangieh, also a personal friend of the Syrian president.
He was elected MP for northern Lebanon in 2000 and remained minister of public works and transport under several governments between 1998 and 2004.
Miqati is the co-founder and partner of Luxemburg-based Investcom Holding, the mother company of a group of telecommunication firms around the world.
He was the owner of one of the two mobile telephone companies in Lebanon until last year.
After earning a masters in business administration at the American University of Beirut, Miqati pursued business management studies at the prestigious INSEAD institute near Paris and Harvard university in the United States.
Miqati is married with three children.
04/15/2005 18:25 GMT