Joseph Aoun who is 60 years old and was the Lebanese Army commander was just picked to be Lebanon’s new president. It took two rounds of voting in parliament to make it happen. They haven’t had a president for two years and tried twelve times before to pick one without success. Aoun got 71 votes out of 128 the first time which wasn’t enough. The second time he got 99 votes which was enough to win.
There’s a rule in Lebanon that says people who were army commanders or public servants have to wait two years after they leave their job to become president. But this rule didn’t apply to Aoun so he was able to become president right after being army chief. This is not usually how it’s done but it helped him get the job.
Lebanon has been having problems because they haven’t had a president for a long time. It’s been hard for them to fix their economic and social problems. Choosing Aoun is a big step toward making things more stable and dealing with the issues the country is facing.