Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to nominate the country’s army chief, Joseph Aoun, as president, ending a more than two-year presidential vacuum.
The session marked the legislature’s 13th attempt to nominate a successor to former President Michel Aoun (no related to the army leader), whose tenure expired in October 2022.
The vote came weeks after a precarious ceasefire agreement ended a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and comes as Lebanon’s leaders seek foreign support for reconstruction.
Aoun was largely regarded as the chosen candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose support Lebanon will require to ensure Israel withdraws its forces from southern Lebanon.
Aoun, who has been commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces since 2017, secured 99 votes out of 128 during the second round of a parliament session called by its speaker, Nabih Berri.
During the first round of voting earlier on Thursday, Aoun received 71 votes, short of the 86 required to become president.
In his first speech to the parliament as president, Aoun pledged to uphold Lebanon’s unity and sovereignty while asserting the state’s exclusive authority over all weapons in the country.
Lebanon has been without a president since October 2022, when the term of Hezbollah-backed President Michel Aoun (no relation) concluded. Since then, the country’s fractured parliament has failed in 12 attempts to elect a new president, leaving Lebanon with a caretaker government operating with limited powers.
Aoun was born to a Maronite Christian family in 1964 in the Sin el-Fil suburb of the Metn district, east of the capital Beirut.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science with a focus in international affairs from the Lebanese American University and another bachelor’s in military science, according to the LAF website. In addition to his native Arabic language, Aoun is fluent in English and French.
