Lebanese Lawmakers Choose a President After 2 Years of Gridlock

Lebanon’s fractured Parliament overcame more than two years of gridlock on Thursday to choose a new president, a critical step toward bringing stability to a country attempting to recover from economic catastrophe and a devastating war.

Lawmakers elected Gen. Joseph Aoun, the commander of the Lebanese military, in the second round of voting, after he failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority in the initial vote. It marked a breakthrough toward forming a government with a mandate to lead the country after more than two years of stalemate under weak caretaker rule.

The vote was seen as a crucial milestone for Lebanon, which has endured a series of disasters in recent years, including an economic collapse and a war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that has left large parts of the country in ruins.

The election Thursday — which frequently descended into shouting matches — also came at an unnerving time for Lebanon and the wider region.

In neighboring Syria, an untested new government is attempting to chart a path forward and rebuild after years of civil war. The fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the defeat of Hezbollah mean a sudden loss of power for their patron, Iran.

Lebanon’s international backers, including the United States, have implied that postwar financial support is contingent on the election of a president. According to the World Bank, the Israel-Hezbollah war, which has been suspended during a fragile 60-day cease-fire, has cost Lebanon $8.5 billion in damages.

Since October 2022, when Michel Aoun stepped down as president at the end of his six-year term, the Parliament has failed in 12 previous votes to elect a successor. But Hezbollah, long a dominant political force in Lebanon, was deeply weakened by the war with Israel and analysts noted that the group likely felt it had to make concessions because of the scale of Lebanon’s financial need.

The new president, who is not related to Michel Aoun, is considered by analysts to have U.S. backing and is widely respected in Lebanon. He has led the country’s armed forces since 2017, a role that placed him at the helm of the single national institution that enjoys cross-sectarian support.

“He is seen as an acceptable figure by all of Lebanon’s political elite,” said Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at Chatham House, a London-based research organization. “This is tied to the perception in Lebanon that the Lebanese army is an institution working in the national interest.”

Diplomats hope Mr. Aoun’s stature will allow him to exercise continued influence over the military and lead to the full implementation of the U.N. Security Council’s Resolution 1701 — a 2006 agreement that ended the previous Israel-Hezbollah war but failed to keep the peace. They hope it will be a blueprint for a longer-term peace once the current cease-fire ends.

Mr. Aoun is now expected to appoint a prime minister, in consultation with Parliament, and the prime minister will then form a government. With no faction holding a majority, that could be a long process.