Lebanon elects Joseph Aoun as president in crucial political milestone

Election comes ahead of major developments, including the fate of a ceasefire with Israel and the start of post-war reconstruction

Lebanon's Parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun as president on Thursday. It ended a power vacuum that had persisted since 2022 and marked a significant political milestone before crucial developments, including the fate of a ceasefire with Israel and the start of postwar reconstruction efforts.

Mr Aoun secured 99 votes in the second round of voting to clinch the presidency after failing in the first session, in which he gathered 71 out of the 86 votes needed in the 128-member house. Shortly after the result was announced, Mr Aoun arrived at parliament, walking along a red carpet into the building, dressed in a suit rather than military fatigues.

“The authorities will have a monopoly on weapons,” he told MPs in his maiden speech, apparently in reference to the militant group Hezbollah's arsenal. The group is seen as more powerful and better armed than the country's army. “The state must invest in its army, to be able to protect its borders … [and fight against] smuggling and terrorism, and prevent Israeli aggression on the territory.”

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed congratulated Mr Aoun on his election victory and wished him "success in leading his country and its people to further stability, development and progress". He also said he looked forward to working with Mr Aoun to strengthen co-operation between the UAE and Lebanon.

US President Joe Biden also congratulated Mr Aoun, saying he would provide "critical leadership" for Lebanon at a crucial moment following the ceasefire with Israel.

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

Under the terms of the ceasefire agreed to in November last year between Israel and Hezbollah after a devastating war that killed about 4,000 people, the Lebanese Armed Forces is one of the main parties entrusted with ensuring Hezbollah disarms south of the Litani River.

The parliamentary session served as a key test of Lebanon's shifting political landscape, with Hezbollah's influence weakened domestically and regionally after Israel's war – in which the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed – and the fall of the regime of its Syrian ally Bashar Al Assad in December.

“Given the regional changes, we have a historic opportunity to discuss with Syria to solve all the problems, especially for respect for the sovereignty of the two countries and the file of the missing, as well as to deal with the refugee file,” he added, referring to the collapse of the Al Assad regime and the more than one million Syrian refugees living in Lebanon.

Mr Aoun became the 14th president after leading the Lebanese army since 2017. Under Lebanon's power-sharing system, established at the end of the civil war by the Taif Agreement, the presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian, the role of prime minister for a Sunni Muslim and of parliamentary speaker for a Shiite Muslim. Twelve previous attempts to elect a president, the last in June 2023, failed to break the deadlock.

According to Lebanon’s constitution, a candidate must secure a two-thirds majority, or 86 votes, in the first round of parliamentary voting. If no candidate achieves this threshold, a simple majority of 65 votes is enough in subsequent rounds.

A significant hurdle to Mr Aoun’s candidacy was his status as a serving military officer. Article 49 of the Lebanese constitution prohibits public employees, including members of the armed forces, from running for the presidency while in active service. However, his backers successfully pushed for a constitutional amendment to address this.

“Today is what Lebanon should be. It's a democratic image. This democracy should be normal in Lebanon,” Melhem Khalaf, an MP and constitutional expert who took to sleeping in parliament in protest against his colleagues' failure to elect a new president, told The National outside parliament.

Electing a president during the 60-day truce with Israel that expires on January 26 was a key component of the agreement that ended the war with Hezbollah, official sources in Beirut told The National in November.

Politicians faced mounting pressure to avoid jeopardising vital reconstruction aid by failing to elect a head of state. Political sources in Beirut said financing the reconstruction efforts by Arab and western donors depended on electing a president and limiting Hezbollah's political influence.

Still struggling with the fallout from financial collapse in 2019, Lebanon is in dire need of foreign assistance to rebuild after the war. The World Bank estimates that about $8.5 billion in damages and losses resulted from the year-long conflict. Lebanon’s political stalemate had left the country without a head of state since October 2022.

Mr Aoun's election comes just 11 days before US president-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office for a second term.

Washington is likely to cheer the election of Mr Aoun, who is widely regarded as someone America can work with and a reflection of the country’s renewed influence on Lebanon, said Edward Gabriel, president of the American Task Force on Lebanon and a former US ambassador to Morocco.

Mr Gabriel said the Biden administration, led by special envoy Amos Hochstein, has helped to steer Lebanon from the grips of Iran-backed Hezbollah.

“The US has been extremely influential with Lebanon and I think the Lebanese are very grateful for what the Biden administration, Mr Hochstein and a bipartisan Congress have done to be very supportive of the Lebanese Armed Forces," he told The National.

Willy Lowry contributed to this report from Washington