Lebanese lawmakers fail for the fifth time to elect a president
MP Melhem Khalaf described Thursday’s session as ‘a repetition of an absurd scene in light of the deadlock’
Lebanon’s divided parliament failed on Thursday to elect a new president for the fifth time, with the post vacant since the mandate of Michel Aoun expired last month.
A new session will be held next Thursday, Nov. 17.
Independent Michel Moawad was the frontrunner in the 128-seat parliament with 44 votes on Thursday, still far short of the two-thirds majority — or 86 ballots — needed to win.
Parliament is split between supporters of the Hezbollah movement and its opponents, neither having a clear majority.
Hezbollah rejected the candidacy of Moawad and called for a “compromise candidate” to be found.
In the meantime, most MPs from its bloc spoiled their ballots.
This year’s vacancy comes as Lebanon is gripped since 2019 by an unprecedented financial crisis that has pushed much of the population into poverty.
Since May, Lebanon has had only a caretaker government that lacks the authority to push through the sweeping reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund as a condition for releasing billions of dollars in emergency loans.
Amid this political sterility, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed on Thursday that the government is doing “the work that is constitutionally and nationally
required to pass this difficult stage while awaiting the election of a president.”
He was speaking at the opening of a workshop for the heads of the Supreme Judicial Council and the first Arab-European Chambers of Cassation.
Mikati said that “those who enjoy obstruction and waste opportunities” are trying to suggest to the public that “the government is willing to replace the head of state, or is working to take away his powers. That is deceiving and hypocritical.”
Mikati stressed that it was not acceptable for the position of head of state to remain empty, not even for a single day.
Thursday’s session was the first held after the end of former President Aoun’s term 10 days ago.
The session was attended by 108 deputies out of 128.
The voting process took place with the session reaching its quorum of 86 deputies.
The voting process was preceded by a protest from opposition MPs against the interpretation of some constitutional articles related to the quorum of the sessions.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri settled the debate by calling for a vote, without providing answers.
Blank ballots outnumbered votes for Moawad, this time 47 to 44.
Six votes went to the academic Issam Khalifa, seven protest votes for “a new Lebanon,” one “for Lebanon” and one for a “Plan B.”
Names of new candidates emerged, as one vote went to former Minister Ziyad Baroud and another to the presidential candidate and former Secretary-General of the Higher Council for Privatization Ziad Hayek.
As a result, neither candidate obtained the 65 votes needed to win the presidency in the first round, which called for a second voting round.