For the seventh time.. the Lebanese parliament fails to elect a president

Today, Thursday, the Lebanese parliament failed to elect a president for the seventh time, despite the position being vacant since the beginning of this month, as a result of deep political divisions in the midst of an accelerating economic collapse that the authorities are unable to contain.

50 deputies voted with a white paper, while Representative Michel Moawad, who is supported by the Lebanese Forces led by Samir Geagea and other blocs, including Walid Jumblatt’s bloc, got 42 votes.

Blocs, including Hezbollah, oppose Moawad, describing him as a “challenging” candidate, calling for agreement in advance on a candidate before going to parliament to elect him.

The system of settlements and quotas between political and sectarian forces usually delays important decisions, including the formation of the government or the election of a president.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri set early next month a date for a new session.

In today’s decision, the Constitutional Council annulled the representation of Rami Feng and Firas al-Salloum, and announced the victory of Faisal Karami for the Sunni seat in Tripoli and Haider Asif Nasser for the upper seat.

voting system

• In the first round of voting, a candidate needs a two-thirds majority, or 86 votes, to win.
• If a second session takes place, the required majority becomes 65 votes out of 128, which is the number of members of Parliament.
• Parliament’s failure to elect a president so far indicates that the electoral process may take a long time.
• No political party has a parliamentary majority to impose its candidate.
• The presidential vacuum coincides with the existence of a caretaker government that is unable to take necessary decisions, and at a time when
• Lebanon has witnessed, since 2019, an economic collapse that the World Bank has ranked among the worst in the world.