Lebanon fails to elect president for twelfth time

Lebanon's parliament failed on Wednesday to elect a president for the twelfth time after the post was vacated on October 31, 2022.

Neither Hezbollah-backed candidate Suleiman Frangieh nor former Finance Minister Jihad Azour secured enough votes to win the first round of voting. The failed vote will deepen sectarian tensions in Lebanon, already mired in one of the world's worst economic crises and facing unprecedented political paralysis with its cabinet only partially empowered and its legislature fractured.