Michel Suleiman was sworn as Lebanon's president yesterday after parliament elected him in long-delayed vote that was a key step toward restoring political stability.
Celebratory gunfire and occasional explosions reverberated across the capital Beirut as news of Suleiman's election was announced.
In the general's hometown of Aamchit on the Mediterranean coast north of Beirut, hundreds of people broke out in cheers and dancing in the main square as they watched the vote on a giant screen.
The Hezbollah-led opposition and Western-backed government agreed last week to elect Suleiman as part of their deal to end an 18-month political crisis. The stalemate erupted into violence earlier this month, bringing the country to the brink of another civil war.
The Arab-mediated deal reached in Doha, Qatar was a major victory for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies, who got their long-standing demand for veto power over all government decisions.
It was a setback for the US which had strongly backed the Lebanese government for three years and is concerned that Iran's influence is spreading in the Middle East. Nevertheless, the US has welcomed the political agreement in Lebanon.
"I congratulate Michel Suleiman on his election as president of Lebanon," President George W. Bush said in a statement. "I am confident that Lebanon has chosen a leader committed to protecting its sovereignty, extending the government's authority over all of Lebanon, and upholding Lebanon's international obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions," Bush said.
"I am hopeful that the Doha Agreement, which paved the way for this election, will usher in an era of political reconciliation to the benefit of all Lebanese," the statement added.
The presidential vote had been postponed 19 times since November when the last president, Emile Lahoud, left office.
Suleiman, a compromise candidate, ran unopposed. He won 118 votes of the 127 living members of the legislature, according to parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
There were six blank ballots. Two legislators voted for one-time presidential hopefuls and one was in the name "Rafik Hariri and the martyred legislators" - a reference to the slain former prime minister and five other lawmakers killed in bombings in the last three years.
After the vote, Berri swore in the new president.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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