Lebanon’s parliament chooses army chief as president, ending two-year deadlock

Newly-elected Lebanese president Joseph Aoun reviews the honour guard (Hussein Malla/AP)

Lebanon’s parliament has voted to elect the country’s army commander Joseph Aoun as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.

The session was the legislature’s 13th attempt to elect a successor to former president Michel Aoun — no relation to the army commander — whose term ended in October 2022.