Lebanon Parliament nominated president

The vote took place weeks after a ceasefire ended between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and at a time when Lebanon leaders are seeking international assistance to rebuild the country.

Aoun was viewed as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose support would be needed for Lebanon to rebuild.

Thursday's session was the 13th attempt to elect Michel Aoun's successor, whose term ended in October 2022.

Hezbollah initially supported another candidate, Suleiman Frangiegh, the leader of a small Christian party in northern Lebanon, which has close ties with former Syria President Bashar al-Assad. However, Wednesday, Frankieh announced that he had withdrawn from the race and backed Ayn, paving the way for the army chief to be elected president.

Hezbollah, who controls southern Lebanon, has been declared a terrorist organisation by the United States, while the European Union has put its armed arm on the blacklist, but not his political party.

Randa Slim, a researcher from the Washington-based Institute for the Middle East, said that Hezbollah's politically and militarily weakening in his fight with Israel and the decline of his ally, Assad, in Syria, along with international pressure to appoint a president, have paved the way for Thursday's outcome.

The system of division of power on the Sescial base in Lebanon causes many indiscretions for political and procedural reasons.

The president's role in Lebanon is limited because of the power-sharing system, under which the president is always a Maroni Christian, the Muslim prime minister Sunni and the chairman of the Shiit Parliament.

However, only the president has the power to appoint or dismiss the prime minister and cabinet. The caretaker government that has led Lebanon over the past two years has had limited competencies, since it had not been appointed by a incumbent president. / REL