After two years of vacancy.. How did Joseph Aoun become the President of Lebanon?

Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun ended the presidential vacancy crisis by arriving at Baabda Palace after being elected President of the Republic in a historic session held on Thursday, thus turning the page on a political crisis that lasted two years and three months.

After 12 electoral sessions over two years, the last of which was on June 14, 2023, all of which ended in failure, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri rescheduled the session to elect the president for January 9, turning it into a pivotal moment in the Lebanese political scene.

Aoun's election as President of the Lebanese Republic came in the wake of a tense political atmosphere and intense conflicts between political and sectarian forces, at a time when the country is facing one of the worst economic, financial and security crises in its modern history, and following a devastating war that has not yet completely ended, leaving the country in a state of anticipation and turmoil.

The parliamentary session to elect the 14th President of the Lebanese Republic began this morning, Thursday, after the quorum was completed, in the presence of the French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, the Saudi envoy Yazid bin Farhan, the ambassadors of the five-member committee, and a number of diplomats.

In the first round, Aoun received 71 votes, while the required 86 votes to win. The rest of the votes were distributed as follows: 37 blank ballots, 14 votes in favor of “sovereignty and the constitution,” 2 votes for Shibli Mallat, and 4 invalid ballots, as the representatives of the Amal Movement, Hezbollah, and the Free Patriotic Movement abstained from voting in favor of Aoun.

In the second round, which was held two hours after the end of the first round, Aoun won the support of 99 deputies, while 9 deputies voted with a blank ballot, and 12 deputies voted with the “sovereignty and constitution” ballot, and Shibli Mallat won two votes, while the invalid ballots amounted to 5, as Hezbollah and the Amal Movement voted for him in this round.

It is noteworthy that the victory of a candidate for the presidency of the republic in the first round requires him to obtain 86 votes, while in subsequent rounds it is sufficient for him to obtain 65 votes out of 128 deputies.

But if Aoun had not received 86 votes in the second round, it would have raised controversy over the constitutionality of his election, based on Article 49 of the Constitution, which states that “judges, first-class employees, and their equivalents in all public administrations, public institutions, and all other legal persons under public law may not be elected during the term of their employment and during the two years following the date of their resignation and actual cessation of employment or the date of their referral to retirement.”

Aoun’s election with less than 86 votes would have required a constitutional amendment, but his obtaining this number is considered an implicit vote to amend the constitution, as any constitutional amendment requires the approval of two-thirds of the members of the House of Representatives, i.e. 86 votes out of 128.

End of the presidential crisis

Prior to Aoun’s election, Beirut witnessed intense diplomatic activity, with international and regional envoys flocking to Lebanon, reflecting the great interest in ending the vacancy crisis, including US envoy Amos Hochstein, who arrived in Beirut on Monday, Le Drian, who arrived on Tuesday, and Bin Farhan, who visited Lebanon twice within a week.

Efforts have focused on supporting Aoun as a consensus candidate who enjoys regional and international acceptance, especially in light of the escalating regional tensions, the latest of which is the military confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel.

The presidential vacancy has become a recurring scene in the country’s political life. After the end of Michel Aoun’s term, Hezbollah disrupted the presidential elections as a result of its insistence on supporting the candidacy of Suleiman Franjieh, who was known for his close relations with the Syrian regime before its fall, as the absence of parliamentary consensus prevented him from succeeding in reaching the presidency.

Hours before Thursday's session, Suleiman Franjieh announced his withdrawal from the presidential race, stressing that he had never been an obstacle to the election process. He also expressed his support for Aoun, praising his qualities and ability to maintain "the prestige of the first presidency."

Despite the Shiite duo’s initial rejection of Aoun’s nomination, as he is the most preferred candidate by the Americans and many countries, and after Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said that “those who cancel have no chance, and those who rely on foreigners will not be able to pass this entitlement with their support,” Hezbollah’s Liaison and Coordination Unit official Wafiq Safa returned to point out that the only veto that Hezbollah places is on the head of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea.

Hezbollah and Amal Movement MPs abstained from voting for the army commander in the first round, in a move seen as a political message that no external agreement will be able to bring a president to the republic without their approval and actual participation.

In contrast, the Free Patriotic Movement expressed its rejection of Aoun’s election, explaining that his election requires a constitutional amendment, which means that proceeding with his election is a violation of the constitution according to the movement’s position.

It is worth noting that according to the prevailing political custom in Lebanon, the President of the Republic must be a Christian from the Maronite sect, while the position of Prime Minister is reserved for the Sunni sect, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives is reserved for the Shiite sect. The President of the Republic’s term lasts for six years, and he may not be re-elected until after six years have passed.

From the military to the palace

Joseph Aoun volunteered in the army as a cadet officer and joined the Military College in 1983, and has served as Army Commander since March 8, 2017.

His name has been prominent during several events, most notably his leadership of Operation Fajr al-Juroud, where the army succeeded under his leadership in expelling ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra militants from Lebanon’s eastern border.

Aoun is the fifth military man to arrive at Baabda Palace, where the name of the army commander in Lebanon is usually put forward as a consensus option when the process of electing a president becomes complicated due to political and sectarian divisions. This is due to the role of the army commander in achieving balance between the various parties, in addition to his status as a symbol of national unity in the conscience of the Lebanese, which makes him a unifying figure who enjoys wide acceptance.

Since the end of the term of President Elias Hrawi, who assumed the presidency on November 24, 1989 following the end of the civil war, and whose term was renewed for three years until 1998, the presidential elections have witnessed a significant shift with only army leaders reaching Baabda Palace. Before this period, no army commander was elected to the presidency except Fouad Chehab.

After the Hrawi era, the beginning was with the election of General Emile Lahoud on October 15, 1998, who came from the army command directly to the presidency of the republic. His era was known for extending his term until 2007, before Lebanon entered a presidential vacancy that lasted six months.

This vacancy, which followed the end of Lahoud's term on November 24, 2007, was accompanied by a political and security escalation that culminated in the events of May 7, 2008. This crisis ended with the signing of the "Doha Agreement", which paved the way for the election of General Michel Suleiman as President of the Republic on May 25, 2008, who also came directly from the Army Command to the Presidency of the Republic.

The Lebanese constitution was amended to elect both Fouad Chehab and Emile Lahoud, but the election of Michel Suleiman did not require this, because it came with a two-thirds majority, or 86 votes.

With the end of Suleiman's term on May 24, 2014, Lebanon entered a presidential vacuum that lasted for two and a half years. During this period, Parliament held 46 sessions without being able to elect a president, until Michel Aoun was elected president on October 31, 2016. When he came to the presidency, he had resigned from his position years before.

On October 31, 2022, Aoun’s term ended, and Lebanon found itself in a new presidential vacancy crisis. Berri called for 12 electoral sessions over two years, the last of which was on June 14, 2023, but they all failed, before today’s session succeeded in ending the presidential vacancy.

Aoun will assume his constitutional powers in a ceremony to be held in the afternoon at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, in the presence of Lebanese, Arab and international media.

The election of Aoun as president is a step that the Lebanese hope will mark the beginning of a new phase of political, economic and security stability. On the other hand, his election represents for the international community a step towards stabilizing Lebanon and implementing the ceasefire agreement in southern Lebanon, especially Resolution 1701, which includes the withdrawal of Hezbollah’s weapons.

Source: Alhurra