The Lebanese parliament failed today, Thursday, October 13, 2022, for the second consecutive time to elect a new president of the country amid deep divisions reflected in the lack of consensus on a successor name for the current president Michel Aoun, whose term expires at the end of this month.

The session was not held due to the absence of the legal quorum, which prompted Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to postpone the session to October 20.

The parliament's failure to agree on a candidate so far indicates that the electoral process may take a long time, increasing the complexity of the situation in the country drowning in a severe financial crisis.

71 out of 128 deputies attended the session, which was boycotted by the Free Patriotic Movement, the current president’s party, coinciding with the anniversary of Aoun's departure from the presidential palace following a Syrian attack in the last year of the civil war (1975-1990), an anniversary that the movement commemorates annually.

A new president is often elected after the main blocs agree on a candidate’s name, in a country whose internal politics rely on compromises among different forces.

Aoun was elected president in 2016 after a presidential vacancy lasted more than two years due to the deputies' failure to agree on a candidate.

In the first session where the quorum was secured, 66 deputies voted with a blank paper while MP Michel Moawad, supported by the Lebanese Forces led by Samir Geagea and other blocs including the bloc of the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, received 36 votes.

On Thursday, Moawad called on the "various opposition spectrums" to unify their position. He told journalists at the parliament headquarters, "The only way for us to reach a sovereign, reformist, and rescuing president is by uniting ourselves."