Watershed moment for the Middle East after Lebanon elects new president - with a Saudi push

It was a last-minute push by Saudi Arabia that decided Lebanon’s fate on Thursday.

It was a last-minute push by Saudi Arabia that decided Lebanon’s fate on Thursday. There were less than 24 hours before parliament was set to choose the next president. But Lebanon’s checkered political landscape was in total disarray. The sectarian political elite seemed to be stuck at the drawing board. Presidents in Lebanon are brought to power by near political consensus, but more than six contenders were still in play. Debates were heated and army chief Joseph Aoun was dismissed by many politicians as constitutionally unqualified for the presidency because of his military post. It looked like parliament was heading for its 13th failed attempt to elect a president in more than two years. Then, a Saudi delegation headed by the kingdom’s envoy, Prince Yazid bin Farhan, flew into Beirut for the second time in a week. It held a blitz of meetings with various political parties. By the time they left, there was only one candidate left: the US-backed Aoun. Ninety-nine lawmakers voted for Aoun, surpassing the requisite two-thirds of Parliament. The remaining 29 ballots were largely either blank or disqualified (one of the lawmakers cast his vote for “Bernie Sanders”).