Army chief Joseph Aoun elected as Lebanon's president

Lebanese lawmakers have elected army chief Joseph Aoun as head of state, filling the vacant presidency.

"The speaker announces that the president is Joseph Aoun," speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday, reporting that Aoun received 99 out of 128 votes after failing to get a required majority in a first round earlier in the day.

The Mediterranean country has been without a president since the term of Michel Aoun ended in October 2022.

But international pressure has mounted for a successful outcome with just 17 days remaining in a ceasefire to deploy Lebanese troops alongside UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon.

Aoun will turn 61 on Friday.

But lawmakers from the pro-Hezbollah bloc voted blank in the first round of the vote, a source close to them said, leaving the army chief short of the required two-thirds majority to win outright.

The source said representatives from the bloc met Aoun at the parliament during a break before lawmakers returned for a second vote.

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 is key to overseeing consultations towards naming a new prime minister to lead a government capable of carrying out reforms demanded by international creditors.

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Source: TRT