Lebanon Elects Aoun President of the Republic after 29-Month Void

Lebanon's parliamentarians elected on Monday founder of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun president of the republic after a longtime vacuum that has been plaguing Lebanon since May 2014 when the term of the president ended.

Eighty-three deputies out of 127 voted for Aoun in the second round when the first round failed to secure him a two-thirds majority winning vote.

In the first round, 84 deputies voted for Aoun, while 36 voted with a blank paper and 6 ballot papers were canceled.

After four rounds of voting, including two unexpected repeat votes over the presence of an extra envelope in the ballot box, Aoun won support from 83 lawmakers, easily clearing the 50-percent-plus-one majority required.

36 MPs cast with blank ballot papers and 8 ballot papers were canceled.

Lawmakers convened at noon (1000 GMT) for their 46th attempt to elect a president but the first expected to actually produce a result.

Ambassadors and diplomats from different countries, including Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali, attended the meeting.

Aoun's supporters had gathered in Beirut and several areas ahead of the session.

Security was tight around the parliament and Beirut's Martyrs Square, where supporters of Aoun's FPM dressed in their trademark orange have been gathering for days.

The 81-year-old former general had long eyed the presidency, and his candidacy enjoyed key support from Iran-backed Hizbullah, his ally since a surprise rapprochement in 2006.

But the key to clinching the post has been the shock support of two of his greatest rivals: Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces party, and Sunni former premier Saad Hariri.

Hariri has described his endorsement of Aoun as necessary to "protect Lebanon, protect the (political) system, protect the state and protect the Lebanese people."

The streets of the capital were emptier than usual ahead of the vote, with most schools and universities closed, but Aoun's supporters were out in force.

- 'We have won' -

"We're counting the minutes until General Aoun is elected, we've waited a long time," said Jean, a 35-year-old hairdresser in the Dekwaneh neighborhood outside Beirut.

"I'm going to close the salon after he's elected and go to downtown Beirut to participate in the celebrations which will last until dawn," he told AFP.

In the Jdeideh suburb of Beirut, dozens of supporters dressed in orange waved pictures of the stern-looking Aoun, as his party's anthems blared from loudspeakers.

"We have won. Lebanon has returned to us," said Indira Georges Alwan, dressed in orange.

The anticipated election was also being celebrated in Syria, despite Aoun's historical antipathy to Damascus.

He once waged a war to push Syrian forces out of Lebanon, but in 2006 joined hands with Hizbullah, a key ally of Damascus that has dispatched fighters to bolster the regime against a rebellion.

"The resistance axis has triumphed, Syria and its allies in Lebanon have triumphed," trumpeted the al-Watan daily, which is close to the Syrian government.

Nicolas Sehnaoui, Lebanon's former minister of telecommunications and a member of Aoun's FPM, echoed many supporters in describing the election as a "dream (that) has come true."

"He will be a president for all the Lebanese, not just his party," he told AFP.

- Blank ballots in protest -

At times the session threatened to descend into farce, with lawmakers casting votes for pop star Myriam Klink and "Zorba the Greek".

Other lawmakers, including from Speaker Nabih Berri's bloc, cast blank ballots in protest at the horsetrading that secured Aoun's candidacy.

"A blank ballot is an objection to the way things were done," MP Ali Khreis told AFP before the vote.

"This country doesn't run on bilateral or trilateral agreements -- we believe in dialogue."

After announcing Aoun's win, Berri said the election "should be a beginning, not an end."

"This parliament is ready to extend its hand to lift up Lebanon," he said.

Analysts have cautioned that despite the unexpected accord on Aoun, Lebanon's political landscape remains deeply divided and the formation of a government is likely to be a difficult process.

And it remains unclear if the country's perpetually ineffectual political class can solve problems that citizens cite as key, like a trash collection crisis that has seen rubbish pile up in open dumps.

The parliament that elected Aoun has twice extended its own mandate, avoiding elections, because of disagreements over a new electoral law.

But for Aoun's supporters, the atmosphere was one of untrammeled joy.

"I'm so happy. After 25 years our dream has come true," said 33-year-old accountant Giselle Tammam, celebrating in Jdeideh outside Beirut.

"I can't believe it."

Aoun is expected to nominate Hariri to return as prime minister, leading some to describe his support for the ex-general as a tit-for-tat.

Aoun's detractors have ramped up criticism of him ahead of the vote, accusing him of allying with whoever will help advance his interests.

In footage posted by an opponent, Aoun is heard railing against the same parliament set to elect him on Monday as an "illegitimate" body because it has twice extended its own mandate.

While Aoun's election will end a vacuum seen as damaging for the country, experts say it is unlikely to resolve the underlying disagreements that kept the post empty for so long.