A new president for Lebanon in crisis

Lebanon has a new president. With 99 out of 128 votes, Joseph Aoun, the former military commander-in-chief of the Lebanese army (LAF), was elected as the country's 14th president by the Lebanese parliament on 9 January. This was preceded by intensive international mediation efforts, diplomatic pressure and internal Lebanese debates on how and with whom the two-year-long vacancy in the presidential palace could be ended.