Former army chief Joseph Aoun vowed in his inauguration speech that Lebanon is entering ‘a new phase in its history’
News Desk - The Cradle
In a second round of voting after a failed first round, Aoun received 99 votes – securing more than the 86 votes needed to ensure a win. Nine MPs cast blank ballots, while 14 others cast different names. A total of five ballots were declared invalid.
“The honorable representatives honored me by electing me as president,” the new president said in his inauguration speech at the parliament right after the vote.
“The political performance in Lebanon must change,” he asserted. “My pledge to the Lebanese, wherever they are, and for the whole world to hear, is that today, a new phase in Lebanon's history has begun, and I will be the first servant to preserve the charter and the national accord document, and I will exercise the full powers of the president of the Republic as a fair arbiter between the institutions.”
Aoun stressed that the Lebanese state has the right to impose its authority on all of Lebanon’s territory and that he will work to “confirm the state's right to monopolize the carrying of weapons” across the country.
“We will invest in the army to control and secure the borders in the south and demarcate them in the east and north, and fight terrorism, implement international resolutions, and prevent Israeli attacks on Lebanon,” Aoun went on to say, adding that he will work to establish a comprehensive defense strategy at the diplomatic, economic, and military levels that will enable the Lebanese state to remove the Israeli occupation and deter its aggression.”
He also vowed to “restore” everything that was destroyed by Israel’s war on Lebanon in the Bekaa, south Lebanon, and southern suburb of Beirut.
With Aoun as president, the position of army commander is now vacant. According to law, the chief of staff of the Lebanese army will fill it until a candidate is chosen.
The new president, a close friend of the US Embassy, has been a major player in the presidential race for over two years despite opposition from some political forces. He has enjoyed significant support from the US and Saudi Arabia and is Washington’s preferred choice for the Lebanese presidency.
In October, Al-Akhbar newspaper reported that the US had hopes of using Aoun’s presidency to counter Hezbollah inside Lebanon.
The Lebanese resistance group had signaled recently that it did not oppose Aoun’s candidacy despite sticking to its preferred candidacy, Suleiman Frangieh, until his withdrawal from the race on Wednesday evening.
Hezbollah’s representatives voted for Aoun on Thursday in the second round after having cast a blank ballot in the first.
MP Mohammad Raad of Hezbollah’s parliament bloc said: “By delaying our vote for the president, we wanted to send a message that we are the protectors of national consensus in the country.”
According to Lebanese journalist Radwan Mortada, Hezbollah has obtained guarantees from Aoun and the international players who “imposed” him on the presidency (referring to the US and Saudi Arabia) regarding reconstruction, a defense strategy, and other issues.
The election comes two weeks before the end of a 60-day ceasefire period in which Hezbollah is supposed to withdraw its weapons to the north of the Litani River under the direction of the Lebanese army.
Israel, which is supposed to withdraw its forces from south Lebanon within the 60-day period, has signaled that it may extend its army’s stay in the country.
Hezbollah has recently said several times that now is the opportunity for the Lebanese army and state to prove it is capable of protecting Lebanon from Israeli attacks and violations.
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