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Lebanon's now former military commander Joseph Aoun has become the country's 14th president after winning a majority of votes in parliament on Thursday, ending aÌýmore than two-year vacuum.

Aoun, who was endorsed by many political parties in recent days, saw just 71 out of 128 lawmakers vote in his favour in the first voting session, short of the 86 votes required.Ìý

After counting the votes, Speaker Nabih Berri called for the second round to be held for two hours to allow for deliberations to ensure a president is elected in Thursday's session.

Aoun was officially announced president after the second round after he received 99 votes, surpassing the 86 votes needed to win.

Accompanied by his family, in downtown Beirut's Nejmeh Square to take the oath.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati had told the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news channel after the first round that he had expected Aoun to win with a majority of votes.

The legislative session came after more than a year since the last session to elect a president was held. It also comes with 17 days remaining in a ceasefire that called for the deployment of Lebanese troops alongside UN peacekeepers as Israeli forces withdraw from the country's south, following the devastating Hezbollah-Israel war.

Under Lebanon's parliamentarian and sectarian-based power-sharing system, the country’s 128 lawmakers must in turn elect a president, by convention a Maronite Christian who serves a six-year term.

Diplomats were present at the session overseeing the vote. Some have defended this as a goodwill gesture from Lebanon to invite the ambassadors of friendly countries that have helped break the political impasse, while others have said it marked a blatant and brazen violation of the country’s sovereignty.