Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun failed to get elected as Lebanon’s new president in the first round of parliament voting on Thursday.
Aoun received 71 votes, short of the 86 ballots that he needs to be elected in the first round. The ballots included 37 blank votes, two for Chebli Mallat and 18 invalid votes.
The blank and invalid votes have been obviously cast by MPs from Hezbollah, Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM).
At the end of the vote, Berri suspended the session for two hours, before a second round of voting is held, in accordance with the Constitution.
Several deputies protested calling for a second round to be held immediately, to no avail.
According to the deputies, the two-hour break will be devoted to consultations. In particular, the two blocs of Amal and Hezbollah wish to discuss their voting intentions. According to MTV, both had agreed to vote blank in the first round and elect General Aoun in the second.
To be continued…
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