October 16, 2016 - 7:14 AM
BEIRUT - Lebanon's largest Christian party has rallied thousands of its supporters to push for the election of its leader, former Army Gen. Michel Aoun, as president.
The supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement waved the party's trademark orange flags at a rally marking the 26th anniversary of when Syrian forces ousted General Aoun from the presidential palace, in the final major military act of the Lebanese Civil War. Sunday's rally reached the palace in the Beirut suburb of Baabda.
Syrian troops occupied Lebanon until 2005.
Lebanon has been without a president since 2014. The post is elected by the parliament, which is divided between the generally pro-Syrian March 8 coalition and the anti-Syrian March 14. The FPM votes with March 8.
The next election is scheduled for October 31.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016