Lebanese lawmakers to convene to elect country’s president

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s parliament speaker has summoned lawmakers for a session this week to elect the country’s next president, offering a glimmer of hope of a political step forward even as chaos roils this Mideast nation. Parliament is to convene on Thursday. Under Lebanon’s fragile sectarian power-sharing system, the 128-member house votes for a president, who must be a Maronite Christian. The six-year term of incumbent President Michel Aoun — a retired military general and an ally of Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group — ends on Oct. 31. Lebanon is going through an economic meltdown and the government struggles to implement structural reforms required for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.