Lebanon army chief Joseph Aoun elected president, ending political deadlock

Lebanon's widely respected army chief Joseph Aoun was elected president in the second round of a parliamentary vote on Thursday in the 13th attempt by the legislature to elect a successor to former president Michel Aoun – no relation to the army commander – whose term ended in October 2022.

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

In a speech to parliament, Aoun pledged to carry out reforms to the judicial system, fight corruption and work to consolidate the state’s right to “monopolise the carrying of weapons", in an apparent allusion to the arms of Hezbollah.

He also promised to control the country’s borders and “ensure the activation of the security services and to discuss a strategic defence policy that will enable the Lebanese state to remove the Israeli occupation from all Lebanese territories” in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli military has not yet withdrawn from dozens of villages.

He also vowed to reconstruct “what the Israeli army destroyed in the south, east and (Beirut’s southern) suburbs" after a full-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah last autumn. 

The election came a day after Suleiman Frangieh, a candidate backed by the Shiite group Hezbollah, withdrew from the race and declared his support for the military commander.

A shifting balance of power

The outcome reflected shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.

The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Raad, implied that the group's legislators had withheld their votes from Aoun in the first round but voted for him in the second in bid to show that Hezbollah – even in its diminished state – cannot be politically sidelined.

“We postponed our vote because we wanted to send a message that just as we are protectors of Lebanon’s sovereignty, we are protectors of the national accord," Raad said after the election.

It also indicated a revival of Saudi influence in a country where Riyadh's role was eclipsed by Iran and Hezbollah long ago.

Under Lebanon's multi-confessional power-sharing system, the country's president must be a Maronite Christian.

If a presidential candidate fails to win a two-thirds majority – at least 86 votes – parliament must hold a second round, where a simple majority, or 65 votes, will be sufficient to win.

The count of the first round showed 71 votes for the army chief while a number of Lebanese lawmakers cast blank votes.

The tiny Mediterranean country had been without a president for two years, after a dozen previous attempts to elect a president failed amid deadlock in parliament between pro- and anti-Hezbollah blocs.

Last autumn's war dealt heavy blows to the Shiite militant group, including the loss of its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.

World leaders react

Messages of support and congratulations have poured in for Aoun from international leaders since the election. 

French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Lebanon very soon, the French presidency said, after Macron spoke with Aoun to congratulate him.

The Élysée Palace said in a statement that it would support Aoun's efforts to form a new government, underlining that it must be capable be capable of carrying out reforms necessary for Lebanon's economic recovery and stability.

Earlier on Thursday, the French foreign ministry extended "warm congratulations" to Aoun, saying his election "opens a new page for the Lebanese" and urged "the appointment of a strong government" that can help the country recover.

US President Joe Biden said he strongly believed that Aoun is the right leader for Lebanon and congratulated him on his presidential election victory, the White House said in a statement Thursday.

"President Aoun will provide critical leadership as Lebanon and Israel fully implement that cessation of hostilities and as hundreds of thousands of people return to their homes and Lebanon recovers and rebuilds," Biden said.

"President Aoun has my confidence. I believe strongly he is the right leader for this time."

The Saudi King and Crown Prince also sent their congratulations, just a day after a Saudi envoy visited Lebanon on Wednesday for the second time in two weeks.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar echoed this theme when he wrote on X: "I hope that this choice will contribute towards stability, a better future for Lebanon and its people and to good neighbourly relations." 

Iran has also offered its support of the new president, expressing hopes for close cooperation between the two countries.

"We congratulate brotherly Lebanon for the election of General Joseph Aoun," said the embassy in a statement on X, adding that "we look forward to working together ... and to cooperate in different fields in a way that serves the common interests for our countries".

Another army chief?

Aoun is a political neophyte but is a respected figure in Lebanon as the head of one of the country’s most respected institutions.

Aoun is Lebanon's fifth army commander to become president, and the fourth in a row.

Military chiefs too are, by convention, Maronites.

Aoun faces daunting challenges, with a fragile truce to oversee on the Israeli border and bomb-damaged neighbourhoods in the south, the east and the capital to rebuild.

He will also need to name a new government capable of carrying out the reforms demanded by international creditors to unlock a desperately needed financial bailout.

Since 2019, the country has been gripped by the worst financial crisis in its history.

The Hezbollah-Israel war has cost Lebanon more than $5 billion in economic losses, with structural damage amounting to billions more, according to the World Bank.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)