Lebanon fails again to elect president despite dire economic crisis as parliament vote collapses

Lebanese lawmakers failed to elect a president for the twelfth time, causing a seven-month power vacuum.
Hezbollah's preferred candidate, Sleiman Frangieh, trailed behind his main rival, Jihad Azour, in the first round of voting.
Azour failed to reach the two-thirds majority needed to win in the first round.
Azour is backed by the country's largest Christian political parties, the Free Patriotic Movement, and the Lebanese Forces party.
The new president's most pressing task will be to get Lebanon out of an unprecedented economic crisis that began in October 2019.