The Lebanese parliament failed on Thursday for the 7th time to elect a new president to succeed Michel Aoun, whose term ended on October 31.
The meeting was held after reaching the quorum, which requires the presence of 86 deputies out of a total of 128 members of the Council.
Fifty MPs voted blank, while 42 votes went to MP Michel Moawad, supported by the Lebanese forces led by Samir Geagea and other blocs, including the bloc of Druze leader Walid Joumblatt, while 6 parliamentarians voted for historian and university professor, Issam Khalifa, with an overturned vote.
The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Nabih Berri, announced the holding of a new session next Thursday, to elect a new president of the country.
To be elected in the first round, the candidate must obtain a two-thirds majority, or 86 votes, or 65 votes in a second round, if applicable.
According to the constitution, the President of the Republic is elected, in the first round, by secret ballot with a majority of two-thirds of the votes by the Chamber of Deputies and in the following rounds of voting, an absolute majority is sufficient.