In the second round of voting, Auns won 99 out of 128 votes.
The first round of voting, which took place on Thursday morning, ended inconclusively as Aries received only 71 of the required 86 votes.
In the first round of voting, representatives of the Iranian-backed Shiite group Hezbollah and its affiliated movement Amal did not vote for Auna.
“Today begins a new phase in the history of Lebanon,” the newly elected president declared after taking the oath, adding that he will be the highest civil servant charged with defending the constitution.
“We will invest in the army to control and protect the borders in the south and demarcate them in the east and north, fight terrorism, implement international resolutions and prevent Israeli attacks,” Aun emphasized in his inaugural speech.
He added that he would work to ensure the state’s monopoly on weapons and prevent judicial interference.
In Lebanon, “there is no immunity for criminals and corrupt persons, there is no place for the mafia, drug trafficking or money laundering,” Auns emphasized.
Lebanon has been without a head of state for more than two years, and this was already the 13th attempt to elect a president.
The previous president, Michel Aun, who is not related to Joseph Aun, left his post in October 2022.
Since then, Prime Minister Najib Mikati served as head of state.
Meanwhile, some parliamentarians who abstained in the vote claim that constitutional amendments were necessary to allow Aun to be nominated.
Currently, the constitution prohibits the election of a person who has held a high public office in the last two years to the position of president.
As army commander, Aun is also currently responsible for overseeing the November ceasefire between Hezbollah fighters and Israel.
Aun, who will turn 61 on Friday, represents the Maronite Christian community.
He is said to have been a candidate favored by the United States and France, as well as several influential Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In Lebanon, there are deep divisions between religious communities, so power has been shared between them at an institutional level for decades. The president always represents Christians, the prime minister is a Sunni, and the speaker of the parliament is a Shiite.
Maronites also hold the post of army commander, and Auns is already the fifth former commander-in-chief to hold the presidency. However, after the civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990, the powers of the president are limited.
However, Hezbollah, which enjoys great influence in Lebanon, has for years been able to impose a president loyal to Iran and the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
However, after last year’s war with Israel and the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, the group has been greatly weakened.
“Hezbollah” kept its candidate Suleiman Franje until the last, but on Wednesday evening he withdrew his candidacy, and the unexpected agreement on Auns’ candidacy confirms that the group’s influence in the country has decreased.