UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the long-awaited election of a president in Lebanon and said a new government must now be formed without delay. Ban congratulated Michel Aoun who was elected by Lebanese lawmakers, ending a two-year political vacuum in the country bordering Syria. He "hopes that Lebanese parties will now continue to work in a spirit of unity and in the national interest," said a statement from his spokesman. The UN chief "encourages the formation without delay of a government that can effectively serve the needs of all Lebanese citizens and address the serious challenges facing the country." The United Nations has repeatedly called on Lebanon's political leaders to elect a president and bolster institutional stability at a time when the war in Syria was rattling the region. Lebanon is hosting more than one million Syrian refugees while hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been living in squalid and often lawless camps in the country. Ban also said that parliamentary elections should be held on time. Those are scheduled for next year. In Beirut, the deeply divided parliament took four rounds of voting to elect 81-year-old Aoun, whose supporters flooded streets across the country waving his party's orange flag. "Lebanon is still treading through a minefield, but it has been spared the fires burning across the region," Aoun said after taking the presidential oath. "It remains a priority to prevent any sparks from reaching Lebanon," the Maronite Christian leader said. Syria's five-year war has been a major fault line for Lebanon's political class, and analysts have warned Aoun's election will not be a "magic wand" to end divisions. The next challenge will be forming a government and that is expected to take months of wrangling. Presidential media office chief Rafic Chlala said consultations to name a prime minister would begin Wednesday morning, with an announcement expected at noon Thursday. The parliament that elected Aoun has twice extended its own mandate, avoiding elections because of disagreements over a new electoral law. But the key to clinching the post was the shock support of two of his key rivals: Christian Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Sunni former premier Saad Hariri. Hariri, expected to be appointed premier, said his endorsement was necessary to "protect Lebanon, protect the (political) system, protect the state and protect the Lebanese people". After taking the oath, Aoun rode in a convoy of black cars to the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, where his wife and three daughters were waiting to congratulate him. In Beirut's majority-Christian neighbourhood of Ashrafiyeh, revellers launched fireworks and loosed volleys of celebratory gunfire. The atmosphere in Jdeideh outside Beirut was one of untrammelled joy, with thousands honking car horns and popping bottles of champagne. "I'm so happy. After 25 years our dream has come true," said 33-year-old accountant Giselle Tammam. — Agencies
