Lebanon's Presidential Election Stalls for 12th Time as Crisis Deepens.
Lebanon's parliament failed to elect a new president for the 12th time, with the bloc led by Hezbollah withdrawing after the first round vote. The main competition was between Jihad Azour, a former finance minister and senior official with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Sleiman Frangieh, leader of the Marada party. The post of the president is reserved for a Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, and the main Christian parties in Lebanon's parliament are backing Azour. The new president will have to navigate a major economic crisis that began in 2019, along with a political system that has long suffered from corruption and mismanagement.