“Everything is ready — even the beds are made,” said Naji Kozayly of the presidential media department on Thursday.

Presidential spokesman Rafic Chlala said that no sooner had news of the Doha accord ending the presidential standoff been announced on Wednesday than staff at Baabda got down to work.

“We had shut down the presidential wing but now it’s coming back to life,” he said. “Come Sunday the national flag will once again fly high over the palace with the election of the new president and the fountain will be filled with water.”

Army chief Michel Sleiman is set to be elected president on Sunday following a breakthrough deal between the country’s Western-backed majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition backed by Syria and Iran.

After his election, Sleiman, 59, will move into the so-called Baabda Palace, a modern-style building built in the 1950s southeast of Beirut.

The complex has been empty since November 23, when Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term with no elected successor because of the standoff between rival political leaders. Yesterday, however, the grounds were buzzing with activity as workers mowed the lush lawn on which every foreign head of state who visits traditionally plants a cedar tree, the national emblem.

Inside the palace, staff washed windows while others dusted the crystal chandeliers and the presidential chair. The 84 palace employees, cell phones glued to their ears, hurried up and down white marble hallways lined with Roman statues. “The private apartments of the president and his family await their arrival,” said Kozayly. “There are 20 rooms plus several bathrooms and kitchens.”

He said the wing, off-limits to the public, had been redecorated in a simple yet elegant style by Lahoud during his term. In the private gardens is a pool installed by former president Amin Gemayel.

“I don’t know if Sleiman likes swimming, but Lahoud made great use of the pool,” said Kozayly.

Chlala said the palace has been left empty on a number of occasions.

“Construction began under President Camille Chamoun (1952-1958) but the palace was without a tenant until Charles Helou (1964-1970) moved in during the last year of his presidency as he preferred living closer to Beirut,” Chlala said.

In 1976, then president Suleyman Franjieh was forced to flee the palace because of the civil war.

In 1990, General Michel Aoun, who had been appointed head of an interim government by Gemayel, was ousted from Baabda in a massive Syrian military intervention that sent him into exile in France for 15 years.

Aoun is now a leader of the Syrian-backed opposition.

When he moves into his new home on Sunday, Sleiman will be the fifth Lebanese president not to be greeted there by his predecessor. On hand instead will be the chief of protocol and the rest of the staff who will be only too happy to welcome their new boss.

“There was a deadly vacuum here and now it’s all coming back to life,” Chlala said. “With the arrival of the new head of state, the country will be able to lift its head again.” -AFP