less than 24 hours before

There were less than 24 hours before parliament was set to choose the next president. But Lebanon’s checkered political landscape was in total disarray.

The sectarian political elite seemed to be stuck at the drawing board. Presidents in Lebanon are brought to power by near political consensus, but more than six contenders were still in play. Debates were heated and army chief Joseph Aoun was dismissed by many politicians as constitutionally unqualified for the presidency because of his military post.

It looked like parliament was heading for its 13th failed attempt to elect a president in more than two years.

Then, a Saudi delegation headed by the kingdom’s envoy, Prince Yazid bin Farhan, flew into Beirut for the second time in a week. It held a blitz of meetings with various political parties. By the time they left, there was only one candidate left: the US-backed Aoun.

Ninety-nine lawmakers voted for Aoun, surpassing the requisite two-thirds of Parliament. The remaining 29 ballots were largely either blank or disqualified (one of the lawmakers cast his vote for “Bernie Sanders”).

Within minutes, Aoun arrived in parliament, having swapped his army fatigues for a suit and tie. He took an oath and gave an Earth-shattering, seemingly well-rehearsed speech, vowing to usher in Lebanon’s “new era” and monopolize weapons under the aegis of the state. In other words, Hezbollah, one of the world’s best armed militant groups for the better part of the last 40 years, was set to be disarmed.

Jubilation filled the streets. A presidential vacuum had been filled. A years-long stalemate between the confessional elite had broken - for the time-being at least.

But it was a development that raised larger questions. Why had Saudi Arabia expended so much diplomatic capital to deliver a president, ending nearly eight years of disengagement from Lebanon that it dismissed as “lost” to Iranian domination via Hezbollah?

Another factor that unlocked the Aoun presidency is also significant: Hezbollah and its allies in the Amal party voted for him.