Joseph Aoun elected president with 99 votes

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun was elected as the new president of Lebanon Thursday with 99 votes, which ended more than two years of presidential vacuum.

Thirteen MPs voted for “sovereignty and the constitution”, nine cast blank ballots, two voted for the lawyer Chebli Mallat as five ballots were considered spoiled.

Parliament had failed to elect a president in the first round of voting, after Aoun did not garner the 86 votes needed to become president. That prompted Speaker Nabih Berri to schedule a second round for two hours later.

Aoun had received 71 votes in the first round, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to win outright. Of the rest, 37 lawmakers cast blank ballots, 14 voted for “sovereignty and the constitution" as two voted for Mallat.

Media reports had said that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement would cast blank ballots in the first round and would vote for Aoun in the second. The "sovereignty and constitution" ballots meanwhile likely came from the Free Patriotic Movement, which is strongly opposed to Aoun's election. Al-Jadeed TV said MPs Osama Saad and Melhem Khalaf voted for Mallat.

A few MPs voted for "Joseph Amos bin Farhan" and "Yazid bin Farhan" in the first round of voting, in an apparent rejection of perceived U.S. and Saudi pressure for Aoun's election.

A delegation from Hezbollah and the Amal Movement had held a meeting with Aoun near parliament during the two-hour break. A Shiite Duo source told al-Jadeed TV that they decided to vote for Aoun after they held an "excellent meeting" with him that tackled "all political, security and reconstruction concerns."

The small country had been without a president since the term of Michel Aoun -- not related -- ended in October 2022.

The legislative session comes with 17 days remaining in a ceasefire that called for the deployment of Lebanese troops alongside U.N. peacekeepers as Israeli forces withdraw from the country's south.

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 who would lead a new government capable of carrying out reforms demanded by international creditors.

Twelve previous attempts had failed to choose a successor to former President Michel Aoun, whose term ended in October 2022.

Aoun, no relation to the former president, is widely seen as the preferred pick of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose assistance Lebanon will need as it seeks to rebuild after a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah — which has been weakened politically and militarily by the war with Israel — previously backed another candidate, Suleiman Franjieh, the leader of a small Christian party in northern Lebanon with close ties to former Syrian President Bashar Assad.

However, on Wednesday, Franjieh announced he had withdrawn from the race and endorsed Aoun, clearing the way for the army chief. Also Wednesday, the Lebanese Forces, which leads the main parliamentary bloc opposed to Hezbollah, endorsed Aoun.

All 128 members of the legislature were present for the vote Thursday.

Lebanon’s fractious sectarian power-sharing system is prone to deadlock, both for political and procedural reasons. The small, crisis-battered Mediterranean country has been through several extended presidential vacancies, with the longest lasting nearly 2 1/2 years between May 2014 and October 2016. It ended when former President Michel Aoun was elected.

The next government will face daunting challenges apart from implementing the ceasefire agreement that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war and seeking funds for reconstruction.

Lebanon is six years into an economic and financial crisis that decimated the country's currency and wiped out the savings of many Lebanese. The cash-strapped state electricity company provides only a few hours of power a day.

The country's leaders reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF for a bail-out package in 2022 but have made limited progress on reforms required to clinch the deal.