Army chief elected Lebanon's president after years of deadlock

[Beastly Boy]

Source: BBC

Lebanon's parliament has elected the country's army chief as president, ending a power vacuum that has lasted more than two years.

Joseph Aoun's candidacy for the mainly ceremonial role - which is reserved for a Maronite Christian under a sectarian power-sharing system - was backed by several key political parties, as well as the US, France and Saudi Arabia.

A rival preferred by Hezbollah, the powerful Shia Muslim militia and political party supported by Iran, withdrew on Wednesday and endorsed the commander.

His election comes six weeks after Lebanon agreed a ceasefire to end a war between Israel and Hezbollah, which left the group significantly weakened and devastated areas where it holds sway.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxzxd32lzvo

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The seat of Lebanon's President gas been vacant for over two years, due largely to Hezbollah unprecedented disregard for Lebanon's Constitution and giving it unprecedented hold on Lebanon's politics.

Aoun is a Maronite Christian, member of a segment of Lebanon's society which is most closely allied with Israel.

[dutch777]

1. Unless this is a coup that overrides the power sharing agreement, the gridlock and ineptitude of the government...

...will likely remain. There is so little agreement on most anything among the parties to the defined power sharing agreement,
Lebanon is basically a failed state. Hezbollah and other sects will play the game on the ground their way with little to no meaningful control by anything that pretends to be "the government". And the Lebanese people will continue to suffer and largely be ignored by the powers that be, domestic and foreign. I wonder if at any point the UN might actually consider getting in the Nation Building business as the list of failed or near failed states gets longer and longer and the ills that spawns negatively affects more and more people?