The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, congratulated Thursday Joseph Aoun on his election as President of the Republic of Lebanon. The Special Coordinator welcomed the election of a president as "a long-awaited first step towards overcoming Lebanon’s political and institutional vacuum and providing the Lebanese people with the functioning state institutions they deserve."

"A prime minister must be designated and a government formed without delay. The tasks ahead of the Lebanese State are too monumental to waste any more time," Hennis-Plasschaert stressed. "Now is the moment for each and every decision-maker to put the interest of Lebanon above all personal or political considerations."

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun was elected as the new president of Lebanon Thursday with 99 votes, which ended more than two years of presidential vacuum.

Thirteen MPs voted for “sovereignty and the constitution”, nine cast blank ballots, two voted for the lawyer Chebli Mallat as five ballots were considered spoiled.

Parliament convened Thursday in a session that could see army chief Joseph Aoun elected as president following a vacancy of more than two years.

Before starting to vote, MPs made fiery statements with some of them engaging in verbal clashes over foreign interference in the elections and the unconstitutionality of electing Aoun.

Hezbollah and the Amal Movement will vote for Army Commander General Joseph Aoun in Thursday’s presidential election session, granting him the votes needed to become the country’s new president, TV networks said.

Ramadan Ondash and his older brother Abdallah Ondash are set to headline martial arts organization ONE Championship show ONE Friday Fights 93 on Friday, January 10.

The Development and Liberation bloc of Speaker Nabih Berri has become inclined to vote for Army chief Joseph Aoun in Thursday’s presidential election session, media reports said Wednesday afternoon.

As Lebanese lawmakers prepare to elect a president on Thursday, some parties are still reluctant to support leading candidate army chief Joseph Aoun, who seems to be supported by the United States, France and Saudi Arabia.

The Free Patriotic Movement still has not announced its official candidate, but its leader Jebran Bassil has said that electing Aoun is not constitutional. "Any vote for Aoun (in the upcoming January 9 session) should be considered a spoiled vote according to the constitution," Bassil told LBCI in an interview late Tuesday. He said he supports former finance minister and International Monetary Fund official Jihad Azour and is open to acting security chief Elias Baissari.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday voiced optimism over the election of a new president in Thursday’s electoral session.

The opposition will hold a meeting in Maarab at 7:00 pm to announce support for Army chief Joseph Aoun’s presidential nomination, media reports said on Wednesday, a day prior to a presidential election session called for by Speaker Nabih Berri.

U.S. Major General Jasper Jeffers, the Chairman of the Cessation of Hostilities Implementation Mechanism, was joined by French Brigadier General Guillaume Ponchin on a visit to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) 5th Brigade headquarters in southwest Lebanon on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Embassy said.