Lebanon’s new president faces uphill struggle to steer country away from brink of collapse

By John Nagle, Professor in Sociology, Queen's University Belfast
Drew Mikhael, Scholar at Centre for the Study of Ethnic Conflict, Queen's University Belfast

Lebanon’s parliament elected a new president on January 9 after a two-year political deadlock and 13 failed attempts. Joseph Aoun met the threshold for victory in the second round of voting after his rival, a Hezbollah-backed candidate called Suleiman Frangieh, withdrew from the race.

In his inaugural speech to parliament, President Aoun outlined a series of pledges to deal with the overlapping crises that have brought Lebanon to the point of collapse. However, delivering…

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