Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.

The Lebanese parliament elected armed forces commander Joseph Aoun as the country's new president on Thursday in a second round of voting. Aoun received 99 votes in a second vote from the 128-member parliament.

Aoun only needed a simple parliamentary majority of 65 votes on Thursday afternoon to be elected as Lebanon’s new leader. Members of parliament erupted in celebration as Aoun re

After years of gridlock, Lebanon’s parliament elected Aoun, the chief military commander, as president. His win could unlock money for postwar reconstruction.

Lebanon's last president, Michel Aoun, left office two years ago, and the position has remained vacant since. He bears no relation to Joseph Aoun. On Thursday, the country is set to hold elections to fill the top post, potentially ushering in a new era of leadership.

It ended when former President Michel Aoun was elected. The president's role in Lebanon is limited under the power-sharing system in which the president is always a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament Shiite.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect army ... Aoun, no relation to former President Michel Aoun, was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi ...

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect ... Aoun, no relation to former president Michel Aoun, was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi ...

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect the ... Aoun, no relation to former president Michel Aoun, was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi ...

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect ... Aoun, no relation to former President Michel Aoun, was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi ...

(AP Photo/Hussein Malla) BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday ... assistance for reconstruction. Aoun, no relation to former President Michel Aoun, was widely seen as the ...

France’s president began a visit to Lebanon Friday, where he will meet the crisis-hit country’s newly elected leaders, as the nation attempts to recover from the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.