"Aoun was seen as the candidate that can bring stability after much instability in Lebanon," Kelly Petillo, a Middle East researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), told DW.
"Before the second round of voting took place, Hezbollah and affiliated movements from the Lebanese Shia community were guaranteed that voting for Aoun was the only way to bring in much-needed regional and Western support into the country whose economy is in tatters," Petillo said.
"So, based on that, there was a second round in which Aoun eventually managed to get the majority of 99 votes of the 128 seats in parliament," Petillo said.
"Today, a new phase in Lebanon's history begins," General Aoun, who headed the Lebanese army until this week, told lawmakers in Beirut after being sworn.
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