"It's long overdue that we really need to have a new president," says Abdul Rahman Bizri, an independent member of parliament and a former mayor who says he voted for Aoun. "We have to start working again in order to rebuild the public sector and institutions and stability in the country in order to achieve what people are aspiring for."
Aoun vowed in his acceptance speech on Thursday to strengthen the small Middle Eastern country's weakened state governing capabilities, reform the financial sector and defend Lebanon.
"We will invest in the army to control and secure the borders in the south and demarcate them in the east and north, combating terrorism, implementing international resolutions and preventing Israeli attacks on Lebanon," Aoun vowed in his acceptance speech.
"It is time to invest in Lebanon through our foreign relations rather than betting on external powers to overpower one another." He did not name those powers but could have been referencing the rivalry between Iran on one side, which backs the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and the U.S. and Israel on the other.
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