Lebanon’s parliament elects army chief as president

By DPA,

Beirut : Lebanon’s parliament Sunday elected army chief General Michel Suleiman as the country’s 12th president, filling a post left vacant for six months by a political crisis that had threatened a new civil war.


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“Suleilman garnered 118 votes and I declare him president of Lebanon,” Speaker Nabih Berri announced after the voting.

A Qatari-brokered deal last week between rival Lebanese leaders defused 18 months of political stalemate that erupted into fighting this month. Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters briefly seized parts of Beirut, routing government loyalists.

The vote had been postponed 19 times because of the crisis.

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