Beirut (AFP) – Lebanese army chief Joseph Aoun was voted in as president in a second round of parliamentary voting Thursday, ending a more than two-year vacuum in the war-battered country.
"The speaker announces that the president is Joseph Aoun," speaker Nabih Berri said, reporting that Aoun received 99 out of 128 votes after failing to get a required majority in a first round earlier in the day.
A source close to Hezbollah and ally Amal said representatives of the blocs met with Aoun after the first round.
The Mediterranean country has been without a president since the term of Michel Aoun – not related – ended in October 2022, with tensions between the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its opponents scuppering a dozen previous votes.
But international pressure had mounted for a successful outcome with just 17 days remaining in a ceasefire to deploy Lebanese troops alongside UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon after a Hezbollah-Israel war last autumn.
Lebanon's divided political elite usually agrees on a consensus candidate before any successful parliamentary vote is held.
US, Saudi and French envoys have visited Beirut to increase pressure in the run-up to the vote.
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Reduced powers
Aoun, who will turn 61 on Friday, was widely seen as the preferred pick of army backer the United States, as well as regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia.
In the commander's home village of Aishiyeh in south Lebanon, residents had gathered from the morning in front of the church, adorned with several Lebanese flags and his portrait.
The president's powers have been reduced since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
But filling the position was key to overseeing consultations towards naming a new prime minister to lead a government capable of carrying out reforms demanded by international creditors.
Under Lebanon's constitution, any presidential candidate must have not held high office for at least two years.
Aoun faces daunting challenges, with the truce to oversee on the Israeli border and bomb-damaged neighbourhoods in the south, the east and the capital to rebuild.
Since 2019, Lebanon has been gripped by the worst financial crisis in its history.
The Hezbollah-Israel war has cost Lebanon more than $5 billion in economic losses, with structural damage amounting to billions more, according to the World Bank.
