Hezbollah ally elected president of Lebanon

[...] the 81-year-old retired general who presided over the final bloody chapters of the Lebanese civil war and is a strong Hezbollah ally has an unenviable task ahead — forming a government out of the country’s unruly political factions and dealing with an array of problems that include what to do with more than 1 million refugees who have fled the war in neighboring Syria.

Aoun, a Maronite Christian, enjoys a wide base of support among Lebanon’s educated Christians but is a deeply divisive figure for his role in the 1975-90 civil war and for his shifting alliances, especially with Hezbollah, the country’s most powerful military and political force.

[...] the transparent box was placed in the middle of parliament, where lawmakers cast their votes in front of two witnesses who watched to make sure no extra ballots were put in.

[...] Aoun garnered 83 votes out of 127 lawmakers present at the session.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby described Aoun’s election as a “moment of opportunity” to restore government institutions as Lebanon emerges from years of political impasse.