Lebanon parliament elects army chief Joseph Aoun as president

Following a second round of parliamentary voting, Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun was elected president, breaking the deadlock that had plagued the nation since October 2022.

Aoun won the election on Thursday afternoon after receiving 99 votes from the 128-member parliament. In the second round, he only needed a straightforward parliamentary majority.

As Aoun received the necessary number of votes, parliament members erupted in celebration.

In the first round of voting, which he received support from 71 parliament members, he fell short of the two-thirds majority earlier in the day.

Since Michel Aoun’s term as president, which was unrelated, ended in October 2022, the Mediterranean nation has been without a president.

A dozen of the previous votes were scuppered by tensions between the Hezbollah movement and its supporters.

With only 17 days until a ceasefire, Lebanese troops will be stationed alongside UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon following a Hezbollah-Israeli conflict last year, international pressure has increased for a successful outcome.