Lebanon’s parliament has elected the army chief of staff as president, ending a power vacuum that lasted more than two years.
Joseph Aoun’s candidacy was supported by several political parties, as well as the United States, France and Saudi Arabia.
Rivals backed by Hezbollah militia withdrew on Wednesday and backed the commander.
The presidency is a largely ceremonial role granted only to Christians under a sectarian power-sharing system.
The election took place six weeks after Lebanon’s government agreed to a ceasefire to end the devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah. This has significantly weakened the Iranian-backed Shia Muslim group.
The Lebanese army has not been involved in the conflict and plays a key role under the ceasefire agreement. The ceasefire agreement calls for deploying soldiers to southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw and ensuring Hezbollah ends its armed presence there by January 26.
Aoun, 60, is a career soldier who has been commander of the army since 2017.
During that time, he led the agency through a severe crisis that affected Lebanon.
These include the 13-month-long Hezbollah-Israel conflict, a six-year economic recession, one of the worst in modern times, and the 2020 Beirut port explosion that killed more than 200 people.
Lebanon has not had a functioning government since its last general election in May 2022.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati failed to secure support for a new cabinet before then-President Michel Aoun’s term expired in October of that year, resulting in a reduction in the powers of his administration.
Since then, lawmakers have failed to elect a new president 12 times. The last time was in June 2023, when no candidate secured enough votes to win the first round before Hezbollah and its ally Amal walked out, preventing a second vote.
Lebanon’s presidential candidates can generally be elected in the first round by winning a two-thirds majority (86 votes) in the 128-seat parliament or a simple majority in the second round. But Speaker Nabih Berri said a two-thirds majority would be needed in any round because Aoun is the current army commander.
In the first round on Thursday morning, 71 lawmakers voted in favor of Aoun, 15 short of what he had requested. Another 37 lawmakers (many of them reportedly from Hezbollah and Amal) cast blank votes, and 20 votes were declared invalid.
Rep. Berry, who represents Amal, then suspended the meeting until the afternoon, drawing the ire of lawmakers who wanted the second primary to be held immediately.
In the end, Aoun was elected president with 99 votes in the second round, easily achieving the necessary two-thirds majority. Nine members of the National Assembly voted blank, and 18 had invalid votes.
As soon as the speakers announced the results, TV channels showed footage of celebrations from all over the country.
Aoun was later seen arriving at the National Assembly wearing a suit and inspecting security guards before entering the building for the swearing-in ceremony.
