Aoun secured 99 votes from the 128-seat parliament to win the presidency in a second spherical of voting on Thursday afternoon, which got here weeks after a tenuous ceasefire settlement halted 14 months of preventing between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, because the nation seeks help for reconstruction.
“A brand new section within the historical past of Lebanon begins at this time,” 61-year-old Aoun informed the chamber, as he arrived to take oath in Parliament.
Aoun’s victory, which noticed members of parliament erupting in celebration as he reached the required threshold of 86 votes, marked the legislature’s thirteenth try to discover a successor for Michel Aoun – not associated – whose time period resulted in October 2022.
In his acceptance speech, Aoun had targeted on “constructing” the nation and its military whereas sending the message that no one had been “defeated”.
The Mediterranean nation has been and not using a president because the time period of Michel Aoun resulted in October 2022, with tensions between Hezbollah its opponents scuppering a dozen earlier votes.
Within the first spherical of voting earlier within the day, lawmakers from the pro-Hezbollah bloc had voted clean, a supply near them mentioned, leaving Aoun in need of the required two-thirds majority to win outright.
The supply added representatives from the bloc met Aoun on the parliament throughout a break earlier than lawmakers returned for a second vote.
Worldwide stress had mounted for a profitable consequence with simply 17 days remaining in a ceasefire to deploy Lebanese troops alongside UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon after a Hezbollah-Israel warfare final autumn.
Aoun now faces the daunting duties of overseeing a ceasefire on the Israeli border and naming a major minister to steer reforms demanded by worldwide collectors to avoid wasting the nation from the worst financial disaster of its historical past.
The president’s powers have been diminished because the finish of the 1975-1990 civil warfare.
However filling the place is essential to overseeing consultations in direction of naming a brand new prime minister to steer a authorities able to finishing up reforms demanded by worldwide collectors.
Aoun was broadly seen as the popular choose of military backer america, in addition to regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia.
He’s Lebanon’s fifth military commander to turn into president, and the fourth in a row.
