The Lebanese parliament on Thursday failed for the second time in a month to elect a new head of state as President Michel Aoun’s term was about to end in about two weeks.
According to the Lebanese National News Agency, House Speaker Nabih Berri announced the postponement of the election session to Oct. 20 after the parliament failed to secure a quorum for the election.
However, only 71 out of 128 members of parliament (MPs) attended Thursday’s session, while 86 MPs, or about two-thirds of the parliament, are needed to meet the quorum.
On Sept. 29, the parliament failed to elect a successor to President Aoun in a session attended by 122 lawmakers, as no candidate could obtain two-thirds of the MPs’ votes.
Lebanon suffers from a steep financial crisis, and the country was in dire need of a new president capable of forcing the implementation of structural reforms to pave the way for a deal with the International Monetary Fund. (Xinhua/NAN)
