BEIRUT: Politics is nothing new for Tammam Salam, who is to be nominated as prime-minister designate over the weekend. Born in the capital in 1945, the lawmaker belongs to a prominent Beiruti family.

He is the son of the late lawmaker Saeb Salam, who himself assumed the premiership in the 1950s and 1970s. Once the most powerful Sunni leader in Beirut, the elder Salam headed the opposition in the capital during the 1958 political crisis.

While caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has led two governments so far, Salam will be designated a prime minister for the very first time.

In remarks to several media outlets recently, Salam stressed his view that the form and role of the new government, rather than who heads it, were of paramount importance. “An agreement should be reached on major issues before the naming [of candidates for premiership]. The aim is to know the form and role of this government,” he told a local media outlet this week.

“What is important is to save the country. I don’t like to go into names, when I will be nominated, I will act accordingly. My first goal remains to serve my country in whatever position I assume,” he added.

Salam graduated from Broummana High School and in 1965 traveled to the U.K., where he majored in economics and business.

He worked as a businessman upon his return to the country.

Salam began working in politics in the early 1970s alongside his father, then a prime minister.

In 1974, he formed the Ruwwad al-Islah Movement, which advocated for reform. But with the proliferation of militias at the onset of the 1975-90 Civil War, Salam disbanded the movement.

In 1978, Salam joined the board of trustees of Al-Makassed, the Philanthropic Islamic Association of Beirut. In 1982, he became the president of the association, replacing his father, and worked to develop it. Years later, Salam resigned from his post as head of the association.

Following the 1989 Taif Accord which ended the Civil War, Salam did not take part in the 1992 parliamentary elections in a bid to preserve coexistence after the polls were boycotted by most Christian parties.

Salam was elected a lawmaker for Beirut in 1996 after running alongside Rafik Hariri, who was prime minister at the time. Salam was defeated when he ran for re-election in 2000. Starting that year, he devoted himself to improving the Saeb Salam Foundation for Culture and Higher Education.

He was appointed as culture minister in July 2008 in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, formed after the Doha Accord, which ended an 18-month political crisis in the country.

Several cultural events took place in the country during his tenure, including the selection of Beirut as the World Book Capital for 2009, Lebanon’s hosting of the Francophone games in 2009, the restoration of the National Library in Sanayeh, and a general increase in the number of public libraries in Lebanon.

In June 2009, Salam ran for parliamentary elections on a list backed by the Future Movement and won a seat in Beirut.