Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri has set a session on January 9 for lawmakers to elect a new president for the country, more than two years after the former head of state’s term ended.
The announcement comes a day after an internationally brokered ceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia came into effect, almost two months after Israel launched its ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
Berri said he vowed “that immediately after the ceasefire, I would set a date for a session to elect a president for the republic. I am announcing that a session will be set for January 9,” according to the official National News Agency (NNA).
Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun left office in October 2022. Lawmakers failed several times to elect a new head of state, amid deep divisions between Hezbollah loyalists and their rivals that prevented any candidate from gaining the required two-thirds majority.
The country has since been running under a caretaker government headed by acting Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Army chief Joseph Aoun’s name has been floated as a possible presidential candidate.
In multi-confessional Lebanon, a president is always a Christian, the head of government a Sunni Muslim, and the house speaker a Muslim Shiite.
