BEIRUT: So far, all signs indicate that a quorum of a two-thirds majority – 86 MPs – will be secured for the Parliament session to elect a president on Oct. 31, that will subsequently put an end to the power vacuum that lasted two and a half years. What will happen during this session and how will the election process go off?

The session is scheduled to begin at 12 noon next Monday when MPs arrive at the Parliament building to vote for their favored presidential candidate. There are two main rival candidates: MP Michel Aoun, who is backed by the Future Movement, the Lebanese Forces, Hezbollah and some of its March 8 allies, and MP Sleiman Frangieh, who has the support of Speaker Nabih Berri and some independent lawmakers. MP Walid Jumblatt, who has previously declared his support for Frangieh, has yet to decide his final stance on the two rival contenders vying for the country’s top post.

Once the lawmakers have arrived in Parliament, the legislative body’s secretary-general and his aides will make a tally of the number of MPs who have entered the assembly hall. If the number of MPs is 86, or two-thirds of the 127 lawmakers following the resignation of Tripoli MP Robert Fadel, Speaker Nabih Berri will enter the hall and immediately announce the start of secret voting to elect a president.

After the MPs cast their votes, the ballot box will be put in front of Berri and vote counting will begin in a loud voice by the youngest member of Parliament.

If the votes gained by either of the two candidates equals or exceeds a majority of two-thirds of 127 MPs in the first round of balloting, the speaker will declare him as having been elected president.

But if neither candidate gains the two-thirds majority of votes in the first round of voting, Parliament will move to the second round of voting where any candidate needs only the votes of half of the 127 MPs plus one, or 65 MPs, to be declared a winner by Berri.

As in the first round of voting, a two-thirds majority, or 86 MPs, is required for a quorum in the second round of balloting, or else the session will be adjourned if a quorum is not secured.

If the election process goes smoothly and Berri announces the name of the winning candidate, the Parliament speaker will deliver a speech congratulating the president-elect and adjourn the session for a few minutes, or announce the beginning of a swearing-in session where the new president will have to take the constitutional oath, deliver a speech and accept the congratulations of lawmakers.

As soon as the newly elected president leaves Parliament, the Presidential Guard Brigade will be tasked with his security and will take him in a bulletproof presidential vehicle to Baabda Palace.

When the new president arrives at Baabda Palace, he will be received by the Presidential Guard at the palace’s entrance where he will be saluted by a military band.

Upon entering his office, the president will be received by the director-general of the presidential palace who will put himself at the disposal of the new president.

The president will issue his first decree accepting the resignation of the current government, which is considered a resigned body as stipulated in the Constitution following the election of a president.

The Parliament speaker will visit the president at Baabda Palace to agree with him on binding parliamentary consultations to be held by the president with blocs aimed at naming the candidate who wins the largest number of MPs’ votes to form a new government.

Later, the prime minister-designate will begin consultations with parliamentary blocs to form the first government of the new regime.