Lebanon's lawmakers voted for a second time in the day on Thursday (Jan 9) to elect Army Chief Joseph Aoun as President of the Middle Eastern nation, breaking a political deadlock that had persisted since October 2022.

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Aoun received 99 votes from the 128-seat parliament, surpassing the required majority of 86 votes needed in the second round. Following his election, Aoun officially stepped down from his military position and arrived at parliament to take the presidential oath.

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Earlier in the day, Aoun fell short of the two-thirds majority required in the first round of voting, securing support from 71 lawmakers.

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Lebanon had been without a president since the term of Hezbollah-backed Michel Aoun, ended in October 2022. Before Thursday’s vote, Lebanon’s parliament had failed 12 times to elect a president over the past two years. This came just weeks ahead of a deadline on 26 January for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon.

Who is Joseph Aoun?

Joseph Aoun, 60, is a career soldier and now the fifth Lebanese army commander in the nation’s history to assume the presidency. Born in Sin el-Fil near Beirut, Aoun joined the Lebanese army in 1983 during the country’s civil war. Over the next three decades, he rose through the ranks and was appointed head of the military in 2017. He is married with two children.

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Aoun is widely recognised for maintaining the stability of the Lebanese army during the country’s severe financial crisis. He is seen as an ally of both Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Under his leadership, the army avoided direct involvement in the yearlong conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. He also played a key role in upholding a 60-day ceasefire brokered by Washington and Paris in November, which required the Lebanese army to deploy in southern Lebanon as both Israeli and Hezbollah forces began withdrawing.

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In a rare 2017 interview with pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akhbar, Aoun promised to “limit political interference” in the military. However, he refrained from discussing his presidential ambitions publicly.

(With inputs from agencies)