Joseph Aoun as President of Lebanon

By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun as the country's 14th president, after more than two years of presidential vacancy, following the end of former President Michel Aoun's term. 

Aoun is also the fourth army commander to hold this position, as Emile Lahoud, Michel Suleiman and Michel Aoun preceded him.

This came after Lebanese MPs voted today, Thursday, in the second round of the presidential election, after failing to secure two-thirds of the votes, or 86 votes, during the first round of voting in the morning, which is the minimum required for any candidate to win.

After receiving 71 votes initially, the army commander secured 99 votes in the second round. Shibli al-Mallat got 2 votes, and 9 white papers were canceled along with 18 others.

The 128 Lebanese MPs participated in the presidential election in the presence of the ambassadors of several countries, including the ambassadors of the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Egypt and China.

Following his victory, Aoun arrived at the parliament's headquarters in the capital Beirut, where he was sworn in.