BEIRUT (AP) – Lebanon’s Parliament yesterday failed to elect a new president, with the majority of lawmakers casting blank ballots and some walking out.
Under Lebanon’s fragile sectarian power-sharing system, the country’s 128-member Parliament votes for a president.
That’s a hard-to-clear threshold and in the context of the country’s struggling economy and deeply-divided Parliament, Lebanon’s unresolved leadership question has intensified concerns of government paralysis.
The six-year term of incumbent President Michel Aoun ends on October 31. He was elected in October 2016 following a two-year stalemate.
Aoun’s successor is to be elected at a time when Lebanon is going through an economic meltdown and the government struggles to implement reforms required for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
In recent months, no consensus candidate in Parliament has emerged, raising prospects of renewed political paralysis.
Lebanon also has not had full-fledged government since May, and currently functions in a limited caretaker capacity under Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
One hundred twenty-two legislators attended yesterday’s session and cast their paper ballots into a wooden box in Parliament’s assembly hall.
Over half cast blank ballots, while lawmaker Michel Mouawad, the son of a former president, received 36 votes.
The remaining dozens were split between entrepreneur and philanthropist Salim Edde and protest votes.
