The first round of the parliamentary session dedicated to elect a new president ended on Thursday with the following results:
Michel Moawad: 43 votes
Sleiman Frangieh: 1 vote
Blank ballot: 46 votes
Issam Khalifeh: 7 votes
Michel Daher: 1 vote
Ziad Baroud: 3 votes
“New Lebanon”: 9 votes
Cancelled ballots: 2
The number of the MPs who voted reached 103.
A new session was called for next Thursday by Speaker Nabih Berri due to the lack of necessary quorum to hold the second one.
The MPs who did not attend today’s session are the following: Ibrahim Kanaan, Edgars Trabolsi, Abdel Karim Kabbara, Adib Abdel Massih and Ali Ousayran.
Following the session, MPAli Hassan Khalil said that there is no possibility to elect a new president without consensus, denying that his party voted for Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh during the session.
For his party, presidential candidate and MP Michel Moawad said that the drop in votes in his favor is due to some "Interference."
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said that he voted for former Minister of Interior Ziad Baroud once again.