CAIRO, Nov 17 Lebanese parliamentarians failed for the sixth time to elect a president, NNA reports.
On October 31, Michel Aoun's six-year term in power ended, from that moment Lebanon has been living without a president — his functions are partially performed by a transitional cabinet of ministers.
According to the Lebanese constitution, a candidate must receive at least two-thirds of the votes in the 128-seat parliament, and in case of passage to the next round, you need to get 50% plus one vote. received 43 votes.
46 deputies handed in blank ballots, 11 ballots were annulled. The rest of the deputies voted for other candidates.
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri scheduled the next meeting, where they will try to elect a president, for November 24.
MPs have been trying to choose a new president since the end of September, so far no candidate failed to win the required two-thirds of the votes.
Lebanon has already found itself in a similar situation with the absence of a president from May 2014 to October 2016, when the president could only be elected after more than 45 parliamentary sessions.
Lebanon has been in a deep financial crisis for more than three years -economic crisis, which is accompanied by political and social tensions. Against the background of the crisis, the banking system was almost completely paralyzed, the national currency depreciated more than 20 times against the dollar. As a result, more than 70% of the population fell below the poverty line.