After a two-year political deadlock, the full parliament elected the current commander-in-chief of the armed forces as president.
Parliament elected General Joseph Aoun, current Commander-in-Chief of the Lebanese Army.
This is therefore the end of an impasse which lasted 2 years, and which saw 12 failed attempts to elect a president in Lebanon.
The emergence of Joseph Aoun came after the two rounds of voting organized this Thursday.
The vote, which took place in the presence of 128 members of the legislative assemblytook place amid sometimes chaotic scenes, with lawmakers regularly addressing each other.
In the first round, he obtained 71 votes out of 128but did not reach the required two-thirds majority. His time came soon after with 99 votes collected, and Joseph Aoun immediately took the oath.
The task will be tough for the new president
Joseph Aoun was seen as the preferred candidate of Lebanon’s main allies, including the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose support will be crucial as the country struggles to recover.
The new president will have to quickly appoint a Prime Minister capable of restoring international confidence, reviving the economy which has been suffering for more than 6 years, and rebuilding the south of the country devastated by 14 months of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
In this regard, he declared on Thursday that his election marked the beginning of a “new era” in the history of the country in which the State will have, quote, the “monopoly of weapons”.
