Lebanese parliament fails to a elect President at ninth attempt

After nine attempts to elect a new President, the Lebanese government is still leaderless.

Members of the Lebanese parliament failed to elect a president once again on Thursday, December 8. To appoint a new leader the vote requires at least a two-thirds majority. This was the ninth attempt by the deputies at making an appointment, as reported by RIA Novosti.

There are 128 people in the Lebanese parliament, and 105 of them participated in the meeting on December 8. As a result of the vote, independent parliamentarian Michel Muawwad received only 39 votes. Another 39 deputies submitted blank ballots, and four ballots were annulled. The rest of the deputies voted for other candidates.

The next meeting is scheduled for today, December 9th. MP Ihab Matar said that a politician: “ready to carry out reforms, having a plan for the reconstruction of the state”, as well as to restore relations with other Arab countries, should be chosen for the presidency.

Lebanese parliamentarians have not been able to elect a new president since the end of September. The previous head of state, Michel Aoun, left office on 31 October. 

From September 29 to October 20, presidential elections were held in the Lebanese parliament, but none of the candidates could get the necessary votes. According to the country’s constitution, if the presidency remains vacant, the government takes over its functions, as reported by kommersant.ru.

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