Lebanon Fails to Elect New President in Tenth Electoral Session
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Lebanese parliament failed on Thursday to name the country's new president again for the tenth consecutive session on the matter as none of the nominees managed to secure the needed majority.
The event thus provided a continuation of the ongoing political and economic crisis in Lebanon, which escalated even further after the explosion of inadequately stored ammonium nitrate at the Port of Beirut.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati has served as the acting president since October following the resignation of then-head of state Michel Aoun.
The parliament needs a two-thirds majority for a candidate to win in the first round. If it does not succeed, the following sessions require an absolute majority.
The two-thirds quorum required for the parliament to convene was lost before a second round of voting could take place.
This is not the first time the country has been without a president since its 1975-1990 civil war. Aoun was elected in 2016 after two and a half years of vacuum and 46 electoral sessions.
But this year’s vacancy comes as Lebanon is battling an unprecedented financial crisis labeled by the World Bank as one of the worse in modern history.
The international community has warned that this power vacuum is only pushing the country deeper into crisis, with much of the population now living in poverty.