Türkiye congratulates newly-elected Lebanese President Aoun

ANKARA

Newly-elected Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reviews the honor guard upon his arrival at the Lebanese Parliament to be sworn in as a new president, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025.

Türkiye extended congratulations to Joseph Aoun, the newly-elected president of Lebanon, Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

“We congratulate Mr. Joseph Aoun on his election as President of Lebanon,” a ministry statement said.

“We hope that the new government to be formed in the coming period will contribute to the stability of Lebanon and the peace and prosperity of the region,” it added.

Aoun was voted in as president in a second round of parliamentary voting Thursday, ending a more than two-year vacuum in the crisis-hit, war-battered country.

The Mediterranean country has been without a president since the term of Michel Aoun — not related — ended in October 2022, with tensions between the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its opponents scuppering a dozen previous votes.

But international pressure has mounted for a successful outcome with just 17 days remaining in a ceasefire to deploy Lebanese troops alongside U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon after a Hezbollah-Israel war last autumn.

The president's powers have been reduced since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. But filling the position is key to overseeing consultations towards naming a new prime minister to lead a government capable of carrying out reforms demanded by international creditors.

Lebanon's divided political elite usually agrees on a consensus candidate before any successful parliamentary vote is held.

U.S., Saudi and French envoys have visited Beirut to increase pressure in the run-up to the vote.

Under Lebanon's constitution, any presidential candidate must have not held high office for at least two years.

Aoun is still head of the army, after extending his mandate past his planned retirement.

 Aoun is now Lebanon's fifth army commander to become president, and the fourth in a row.

Military chiefs too are, by convention, Maronites.

The new president faces daunting challenges, with the truce to oversee on the Israeli border and bomb-damaged neighbourhoods in the south, the east and the capital to rebuild.

Since 2019, Lebanon has been gripped by the worst financial crisis in its history.

The Hezbollah-Israel war has cost Lebanon more than $5 billion in economic losses, with structural damage amounting to billions more, according to the World Bank.