The new President, Joseph Aoun, on the day of his election, Jan. 9, 2025. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L’Orient Le-Jour)
Through an international mobilization to resolve a more than two-year institutional deadlock, the election of Joseph Aoun highlighted the stakes tied to the choice of the Lebanese head of state. Presumed diminished since Taif Agreement due to a reduction in attached competencies, the presidential office regains its centrality. The president is no longer merely a symbolic figurehead but an essential institutional leader.Through his election, the president, as protector of the Constitution and functional institutions, could steer a drifting ship back on course. This, hopefully, marks the end of a crisis that has been reoccurring since 2006 and 2014. It also signifies the failure of a Hezbollah strategy to enforce hegemony through successive blockages and erosion of power. Significant setbacks followed the party's impulsive wartime...
Through an international mobilization to resolve a more than two-year institutional deadlock, the election of Joseph Aoun highlighted the stakes tied to the choice of the Lebanese head of state. Presumed diminished since Taif Agreement due to a reduction in attached competencies, the presidential office regains its centrality. The president is no longer merely a symbolic figurehead but an essential institutional leader.Through his election, the president, as protector of the Constitution and functional institutions, could steer a drifting ship back on course. This, hopefully, marks the end of a crisis that has been reoccurring since 2006 and 2014. It also signifies the failure of a Hezbollah strategy to enforce hegemony through successive blockages and erosion of power. Significant setbacks followed the party's impulsive wartime...