Lebanon Elects Michel Suleiman President

The Lebanese parliament Sunday said it agreed to elect army Gen. Michel Suleiman as president following months of political violence.

Analysts worry, however, that electing a president after nearly six months of turmoil fails to resolve the most pivotal issues concerning the political violence in Lebanon, Voice of America reported.

Suleiman has good ties with both sides of the political turmoil in Lebanon, though his ability to form a unity government remains untested.

Mohamad Bazzi with the U.S. think tank Council on Foreign Relations said, The entire system works on consensus, so Gen. Suleiman would have to achieve consensus on all of the important questions, and that’s the most difficult problem Â… there’s no consensus around the thorny questions, like Hezbollah’s weapons.

Other questions remain unsettled, notably Lebanon’s relationship with Syria and Beirut’s involvement in the U.N. investigation into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Sunday’s election follows an agreement Wednesday brokered by Arab mediators in Qatar to tackle election laws, a unity government and the status of Hezbollah’s weapons.

Former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud stepped down in November, leaving the Suleiman waiting in the wings for months.