After years of political impasse and a presidential void, the US-backed army chief was chosen by Lebanon’s parliament to be the nation’s next president.
Following two rounds of voting, Joseph Aoun, the head of the army, was elected president. This followed intense efforts by the US and Saudi Arabia to mobilize support for Aoun, who is close to both Riyadh and Washington.
Aoun essentially resigned from his military position after being elected president. Wearing civilian clothes, he entered parliament to take the oath of office as president.
Since former President Michel Aoun, who is unrelated to Joseph Aoun, left office in October 2022, Lebanon has been without a president. Hezbollah, which Iran supports, supported the former president. Tensions between the nation’s pro-Western and pro-Iranian factions were heightened by the failure of negotiations over his successor.
Over the past two years, there have been 12 unsuccessful attempts to elect a president before Thursday’s parliamentary sessions.
The long-awaited presidential election also seems to have been accelerated by a ceasefire deal mediated by the United States that put an end to a war between Israel and Hezbollah last November. Israel’s attack dealt severe blows to Hezbollah, and shortly after, Iran-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown because he had allowed Hezbollah’s weapons to enter his country from Iran through neighboring Iraq.
It is generally assumed that Hezbollah and Amal, its principal Shia ally, voted for Aoun in the second round after abstaining from voting in the first. In the second round of voting, Aoun prevailed by 99 parliamentary votes out of 128.
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Despite not taking part in the full-scale conflict with Israel, the Lebanese army is crucial to the ceasefire’s implementation. This requires the army to move to Hezbollah-held regions in southern Lebanon, which is adjacent to Israel. Additionally, Israeli forces must leave Lebanese territory.
The president of Lebanon is usually a Maronite Christian, as part of the confessional power-sharing system of the small eastern Mediterranean nation.
