Lebanon’s parliament elected Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a U.S.-endorsed general and demonstrating the diminishing influence of the US-backed Hezbollah group. Iran after its devastating war with Israel.
The result reflects shifts in the balance of power in Lebanon and the broader Middle East, with Shiite Muslim Hezbollah hit hard by last year’s war and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.
It also indicates a revival of Saudi influence in a country where Riyadh’s role has long been eclipsed by Iran and Hezbollah.
The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since the end of the mandate of Michel Aoun (no relation) in October 2022, with the deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate capable of winning enough votes in all 128 elections. -seat parliament.
Aoun fell short of the 86 votes needed in the first round, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in the second round, according to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shiite ally, the Amal movement, supported him.
Momentum built behind Aoun on Wednesday when Hezbollah’s longtime favored candidate, Suleiman Frangieh, withdrew and declared his support for the army commander, and as French and Saudi envoys shuttled around of Beirut, urging his election in meetings with politicians, three Lebanese political sources said.
A source close to the Saudi royal court said French, Saudi and American envoys told Berri, a close Hezbollah ally, that international financial aid – including from Saudi Arabia – depended on the election of Aoun.
“There is a very clear message from the international community that it is ready to support Lebanon, but that requires a president, a government,” Michel Mouawad, a Christian lawmaker opposed to Hezbollah who voted for Aoun, told Reuters .
“We received a message of support from the Saudis,” he added.
No more head of state since 2022
The election of Joseph Aoun is a first step toward reviving government institutions in a country that has had neither a fully empowered head of state nor cabinet since Michel Aoun left office.
Lebanon, whose economy is still reeling from a devastating financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of international support to rebuild after the war, which the World Bank says cost the country 8.5 billion US dollars.
In Lebanon, residents are burying their dead and trying to rebuild their lives as a fragile ceasefire holds between Israel and Hezbollah, as CBC News hears mixed opinions on the future of the weakened militant group.
Its system of government requires the new president to convene consultations with lawmakers to appoint a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be drawn out as factions haggle over ministerial portfolios.
Aoun plays a key role in strengthening the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel negotiated by Washington and Paris in November. Conditions require the Lebanese army to deploy in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw their forces.
Aoun, 60, has been commander of the U.S.-backed Lebanese army since 2017. Under his leadership, U.S. aid has continued to flow to the army, part of a longstanding U.S. policy focused on supporting state institutions to curb Hezbollah’s influence.
French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine said a new government will have to carry out the reforms necessary for Lebanon’s economic recovery, stability, security and sovereignty, and added that the France calls on all Lebanese political leaders and authorities to work to achieve these objectives.
