The Lebanese Parliament fails to elect a new President of the Republic
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri speaks during the parliament session.
Reuters
The Lebanese parliament failed to elect a new president, during a session held yesterday to choose a successor to the current president, Michel Aoun, whose six-year term expires on October 31.
The National News Agency quoted Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as saying that the results of the vote count resulted in 63 blank papers, 36 papers for Michel Moawad, 10 papers for “Lebanon,” and 12 votes for other names, announcing the adjournment of the session, due to the lack of a quorum for the second session.
Berri added, during the session, that "if there is no consensus, we will not save neither the Council nor Lebanon," noting that "when he feels that there is consensus, he will set a date for a session."
The Lebanese President, Michel Aoun, expressed his satisfaction with the launching of the process of electing a new President of the Republic in an atmosphere of democracy.
The Lebanese presidency said, on its Facebook page, that Aoun followed up on the proceedings of the first session to elect a new president.
Aoun expressed his hope that the electoral sessions would continue within the constitutional deadline, so that parliamentarians would be able to elect a new president, who would complete the reform and fight against corruption that began six years ago, in addition to confronting the difficult economic and social conditions that citizens are experiencing.
A quorum was present in yesterday's session, with 104 out of 128 deputies present, according to the official National Media Agency.
However, none of the candidates obtained the required majority during this session.
In the first round of voting, a candidate needs to obtain a two-thirds majority, or 86 votes, to win.
In the event of a second round, the required majority is 65 votes.
The majority of parliamentary blocs announced their desire to participate in the session to elect the 14th President of the Republic.
While the "opposition" deputies stressed the need to agree on one candidate to support him in the presidential election session, a number of deputies confirmed that they would vote with a white paper, including the head of the "Free Patriotic Movement" MP Gebran Bassil, who said, "We will vote with a white paper, because it is not We have no candidate we support yet.”
It seems that the absence of consensus on a candidate will mean that the position of president will remain vacant when Aoun's term ends, at a time when Lebanon is suffering from a severe financial crisis.
He has previously vacated the post of president several times since the 1975-1990 civil war.
In anticipation of a presidential vacuum, politicians are intensifying their efforts to form a new government, led by Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who is currently heading a caretaker government, to which presidential powers can be transferred until a president is agreed upon.
The Lebanese Constitution stipulates that at least one month before the end of the term of the President of the Republic, or two months at most, the House of Representatives meets at the invitation of its President to elect the new President. President's mandate.
The President of the Republic is elected by secret ballot by a two-thirds majority of the House of Representatives in the first session, and an absolute majority is sufficient in the voting cycles that follow, and his presidency lasts for six years, and he may not be re-elected until six years after the end of his term.
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