Lebanon's new president raises hopes for Middle East stability

With the election of Joseph Aoun as Lebanon's new president on Thursday, January 9, the country has concluded a two-year period marked by a political vacuum under a previous caretaker government, News.az reports citing Deutsche Welle.

"Aoun was seen as the candidate that can bring stability after much instability in Lebanon," Kelly Petillo, a Middle East researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), told DW.

And yet, the election "was not easy" she said.

"In an initial round of voting, Aoun didn't manage to secure the 86 votes needed to pass a candidate as president," Petillo explained.

The political Hezbollah faction as well as its parliamentary ally, the Amal Movement, had abstained from voting, she said.

Lebanon's military wing of Hezbollah is considered a terrorist group by several countries, including the US and the European Union. In contrast, its political wing is represented in parliament and is heavily involved in social welfare issues.

"Before the second round of voting took place, Hezbollah and affiliated movements from the Lebanese Shia community were guaranteed that voting for Aoun was the only way to bring in much-needed regional and Western support into the country whose economy is in tatters," Petillo said.

She added that the Shia parties were also guaranteed enough representation in the new Lebanese government.

"So, based on that, there was a second round in which Aoun eventually managed to get the majority of 99 votes of the 128 seats in parliament," Petillo said.

Meanwhile, state leaders from Iran, Israel, the US, France, and many others have congratulated Joseph Aoun, who is not related to the previous president Michel Aoun.

"Today, a new phase in Lebanon's history begins," General Aoun, who headed the Lebanese army until this week, told lawmakers in Beirut after being sworn.

The 61-year-old Joseph Aoun, who was appointed army chief in March 2017, had kept his Lebanese Armed Forces out of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah which had escalated after 12 months of limited fighting into eight weeks of war during which Hezbollah was significantly weakened, and more than 3,000 people were killed.

Lebanon's presidential elections were announced in late November, a day after the beginning of the 60-day-ceasefire between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel.

The vote on Thursday took place some two weeks before the official end of the ceasefire.

Joseph Aoun's most urgent task is now to consolidate the ceasefire.

News.Az