STORY DEVELOPMENTSTORY DEVELOPMENT,
This appointment broke the deadlock that left the country without a head of state from October 2022.
Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun has been elected as the country’s president after a second round of parliamentary voting, breaking a deadlock that has left the country without a head of state since October 2022.
Aoun secured 99 votes from the 128-seat parliament to win the presidential election in a run-off vote on Thursday afternoon, weeks after a weak cease-fire The agreement halted 14 months of fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as the country seeks reconstruction aid.
“Today begins a new phase in Lebanon’s history,” 61-year-old Aoun told the hall as he arrived to take the oath of office in parliament.
Aoun’s victory, which sparked celebrations from members of parliament as he reached the required 86-vote threshold, marked the legislature’s 13th attempt to find a successor to Michel Aoun – not related – whose mandate ended in October 2022.
“There is no doubt that the election of Joseph Aoun is a new era in Lebanon,” said Al Jazeera journalist Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut. “Joseph Aoun is really the favorite candidate of the international community, but… he really enjoys support here.”
The balance of power in Lebanon has shifted, she said, noting that Israel’s war against Lebanon has “weakened” Hezbollah.
“At the end of the day, this country needs billions of dollars in reconstruction money and that money will not come until Lebanon elects a president that the international community believes is reform-minded, beyond what they believe is a corrupt political class,” she said.
In his acceptance speech, Aoun focused on “building” the nation and its military while sending the message that no one was “defeated.”
“This is a country where there are deep… political and sectarian divisions. If one community feels left out, then there can be no civil peace. This country does not function if there is no consensus,” said Khodr.
A daunting task
The Mediterranean country has been without a president since Michel Aoun’s term ended in October 2022, and tensions between Hezbollah and its opponents have marred a dozen previous votes.
In the first round of voting earlier in the day, lawmakers from the pro-Hezbollah bloc did not vote blank, a source close to them said, leaving Aoun short of the necessary two-thirds majority to win outright.
The source said representatives of the bloc met with Aoun in parliament during a recess before lawmakers returned for a second vote.
International pressure has mounted for a successful outcome with just 17 days left of a truce to deploy Lebanese troops alongside UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon following the Hezbollah-Israeli war last fall.
Aoun now faces the daunting tasks of overseeing a ceasefire on Israel’s border and appointing a prime minister to lead reforms demanded by international creditors to rescue the country from the worst economic crisis in its history.
The president’s powers were reduced after the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
But filling the position is crucial to overseeing consultations on the appointment of a new prime minister to lead a government capable of implementing the reforms demanded by international creditors.
Aoun was seen by many as the preferred military backer of the United States as well as regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia.
He is the fifth commander of the Lebanese army to become president, and the fourth in line.
