Lebanon's president appointed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora today to head a new cabinet that will govern until a parliamentary election in 2009.
Mr Siniora's appointment follows a Qatari-mediated deal that ended 18 months of conflict between Lebanon's governing coalition and the opposition.
President Michel Suleiman asked Mr Siniora to form the cabinet in which the Hezbollah-led opposition is guaranteed enough seats to give it effective veto power over government decisions.
"We did not nominate Prime Minister Siniora as a challenge, but for reconciliation and to turn the page," majority leader Saad al-Hariri, Lebanon's strongest Sunni politician, told journalists after informing Mr Suleiman of his choice.
Lebanon's constitution requires the president, who was elected on Sunday by parliament, to appoint the candidate backed by the largest number of lawmakers. MPs informed Suleiman of their preferences today.
The US-backed parliamentary majority bloc had already declared its support for Siniora, determining the outcome in advance. The post must be filled by a Sunni according to Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system.
Mr Siniora won the backing of 68 of parliament's 127 members.
Hizbullah, a Shia group backed by Syria and Iran, did not put forward its own candidate for prime minister. Mr Siniora led the cabinet through the 18-month crisis - Lebanon's worst since the 1975-90 civil war.
Prime minister since July 2005, Mr Siniora was frequently the target of opposition enmity during the political conflict which effectively paralysed his government. A former finance minister, he was depicted as a US puppet by his opponents.
The opposition declared his cabinet illegitimate in November 2006 after all of its Shia ministers quit in protest at the governing coalition's refusal to meet its demand for veto power.
"The candidate to head the national unity government should have characteristics that reflect this title," said Mohammed Raad, the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc.
Under the Doha agreement which ended the crisis, the opposition is guaranteed 11 seats in a new cabinet of 30 - more than the third it needs to block decisions.
The ruling coalition yielded to the opposition's demand after Hizbullah and its allies routed their rivals in a military campaign this month. The fighting killed 81.