War-torn Lebanon finally fills two-year president vacancy

Lebanon’s lawmakers on Thursday elected army chief Joseph Aoun as president after a two-year vacancy in the position, in a step towards lifting the war-battered country out of financial crisis. Aoun, who turns 61 on Friday, arrived inside parliament to swear his oath to general applause, wearing a dark suit and blue tie instead of his usual military uniform.

‘Today, a new phase in Lebanon’s history begins,’ he told the chamber. Aoun faces the daunting tasks of overseeing a ceasefire in south Lebanon and naming a prime minister able to lead reforms demanded by international creditors to save the country from its worst economic crisis in history. He said he would call for parliamentary consultations as soon as possible on naming a new prime minister.

He vowed that the state would have ‘a monopoly’ on arms after a devastating war this autumn between Israel and Shiite militant group Hezbollah. ‘I pledge to call for discussing a comprehensive defence strategy… on the diplomatic, economic and military levels that will enable the Lebanese state – I repeat, the Lebanese state – to remove the Israeli occupation and deter its aggression,’ he added. Michel Helou, the secretary general of the reformist National Bloc party, who has met Aoun several times, said: ‘The first priority is the ceasefire and the second is dealing with Hezbollah’s weapons. There is no clear way to disarm Hezbollah, but if [Aoun] wants to be remembered he will have to deal with them.’

Parliament speaker Nabih Berri announced the new president after 99 lawmakers out of 128 backed his candidacy. Aoun is Lebanon’s fifth army commander to become president, and the fourth in a row. Under multi-confessional Lebanon’s power-sharing system, the president must be a Maronite Christian, as do military chiefs. The president’s powers have been reduced since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

But filling the position is key to overseeing consultations towards naming a new prime minister. The Mediterranean country has been without a president since the term of Michel Aoun – unrelated to his successor – ended in October 2022. Critics have accused the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its allies of scuppering previous votes. The war between Israel and Hezbollah that ended in late November dealt heavy blows to the group, including the loss of its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli air strike.

In neighbouring Syria, Hezbollah has lost a major ally after rebels toppled president Bashar al-Assad last month. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he hoped his election would ‘contribute towards stability’. Iran’s embassy in Beirut congratulated Aoun on his win, saying it looked forward to working together to serve ‘common interests’. Aoun was widely seen as the preferred pick of army backer the United States, as well as regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia.

The US embassy in Beirut said Washington was ‘committed to working closely with President Aoun as he begins his efforts to unite the country’. British ambassador to Lebanon Hamish Cowell on X said Aoun’s election was ‘a signal of hope for Lebanon’. UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said a prime minister should be designated ‘and a government formed without delay’. Former colonial power France urged ‘the appointment of a strong government’. International pressure had mounted ahead of the vote, with just 17 days remaining in a ceasefire to deploy Lebanese troops alongside UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon after Israeli troops withdraw.

But lawmakers from the pro-Hezbollah bloc voted blank in the first round of the vote on Thursday morning, a source close to them said, leaving army chief Aoun short of the required two-thirds majority to be elected outright. The source said representatives from the bloc met Aoun before lawmakers returned for a second vote. US, Saudi and French envoys have visited Beirut to increase pressure in the run-up to the vote. France’s envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, attended the vote.

Several lawmakers in the second round still objected to what they saw as foreign interference in the vote. In protest, some rendered their ballot void by voting for ‘sovereignty and the constitution’, a reference to the fact that Aoun’s election would have technically required a constitutional amendment. Under Lebanon’s constitution, any presidential candidate must have not held high office for at least two years.

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