Following the retirement of the former Lebanese president, Michael Aoun, the parliament in Lebanon was not able to elect his successor. After more than two years without a president, Joseph Aoun, the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, was elected on 9 January 2025 and became the 14th president of Lebanon. With the election of Joseph Aoun, it is expected that the Lebanese parliament may change the constitution to allow him to serve as chief of staff and president at the same time.
Who is Joseph Aoun?
Joseph Aoun is a Maronite Christian who was born in 1964 in Beirut. He studied in Lebanon and earned bachelor’s degrees in political science, international affairs, and military science. The new president of Lebanon joined the Lebanese army in 1983 and had military training in the United States and Syria. During the Lebanese Civil War, he was a lieutenant in the Lebanese Army’s special forces unit, the Commando Regiment. In 2017 the Lebanese government appointed him commander-in-chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces. In December 2023 the parliament in Lebanon voted to extend Aoun’s term for one year, endorsed mainly by the Lebanese opposition, the Amal Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party. His term was extended a second time in November 2024. Joseph Aoun led the Lebanese Armed Forces in the Israel–Lebanon conflict that started in 2024.
Presidential Elections in Lebanon
Article 49 of the Lebanese Constitution states that a qualified majority of two-thirds of the parliament’s members (86 out of 128) must vote for the president in the first round. If a decision is not reached in the first round, a simple majority of 65 members can elect a president in the second round. In addition to the Constitution, the National Pact, an unofficial agreement signed in 1943, requires that the speaker of parliament be a Shiite Muslim, the prime minister be a Sunni Muslim, and the president be a Maronite Christian.
Joseph Aoun was elected president in the second round of voting, after failing to garner the required majority of 86 votes in the first round. 71 out of 128 members voted for Aoun, while 37 members abstained, and the remaining 20 votes were invalidated. Two hours later, the parliament held another vote, in which only 65 votes were required to confirm the appointment. Finally, Aoun was declared the winner with 99 votes.
One of the president’s duties is to approve government appointments; thus, the appointment of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his ministers were defined as temporary appointments only. Since the retirement of the previous president, there have been 13 attempts to appoint a new president, but Hezbollah representatives in parliament made it clear that they would oppose the appointment of any possible candidate who is not on their side. However, the night before the latest election, Hezbollah candidate Suleiman Frangieh announced his withdrawal from the race at the last minute.
Aoun’s presidential candidacy was first raised in July 2022 and was supported by Qatar and the United States. In December 2022 the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt (the so-called five-nation group) held talks to resolve the presidential vacancy in Lebanon. The majority affirmed their support of Aoun’s election.
Hungarian Reaction
Officials from various countries, including Péter Szijjártó, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, welcomed Lebanon’s election of a new president. He said the president’s election will bring stability to a country that has experienced many hardships over the past several months and years. ‘This is, for us Hungarians, excellent news from the point of view that the stability of the Middle East contributes to Europe’s security, and also because the peace of Christian communities and the full enforcement of their rights are significant to us,’ the minister said. Péter Szijjártó noted that he had spoken with Abdallah Bou Habib, his Lebanese counterpart, and congratulated him on the election of the country’s new president. According to Minister Szijjártó’s social media post, the two foreign ministers reaffirmed their mutual commitment to developing bilateral relations between Hungary and Lebanon.
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