The Lebanese legislature on Thursday elected army commander Gen. Joseph Aoun as president, ending two years of deadlock.

Lebanon’s parliament has elected Joseph Aoun, the country’s army chief, as president, ending a two-year political deadlock that left the nation without a

This outcome followed extensive efforts by Saudi Arabia and the United States to garner support for the new Lebanese president.

Aoun, 61, secured 99 votes from the 128-seat parliament during a second round of voting on Thursday.

After two years of a presidential vacuum, Lebanese army chief Joseph Aoun was elected president Thursday in the second round of a parliamentary vote. Addressing parliament shortly after the vote, Aoun emphasised the need for reforms and said his tenure would be focused on national reconstruction and maintaining Lebanon's territorial integrity. FRANCE 24's Rawad Taha reports from Beirut.

The session was the legislature’s 13th attempt to elect a successor to former president Michel Aoun.

Aoun was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose assistance Lebanon will need to ensure that Israel withdraws its forces from southern Lebanon as stipulated in the agreement and to fund the post-war rebuilding.

Lebanese army chief Joseph Aoun was voted in as president in a second round of parliamentary voting Thursday, ending a more than two-year vacuum in the crisis-hit, war-battered country. French President…