BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Parliament failed to elect a new president on Wednesday, with no candidate securing the two-thirds of the votes needed to win and many lawmakers leaving their ballots blank.

With the Parliament divided between two powerful blocs, one centered around the Hezbollah movement and the other opposed to it, the outcome had been expected. The Parliament will now hold a second vote on April 30, in which the winning candidate will need only a simple majority of 65 votes.

On Wednesday, 124 of the Parliament’s 128 members were present, with 48 casting their ballots for Samir Geagea, the candidate backed by the March 14 movement that opposes Hezbollah. Observers had predicted Geagea would fail to win the two-thirds majority required because of his fierce anti-Hezbollah stance.

But speaking after the vote, he said he would not drop out of the race. “I will continue with my candidacy. We are not going to compromise, and the other party must name a candidate so there can be democratic elections,” Geagea said.

Members of the rival March 8 bloc centerd around the powerful Shiite Hezbollah movement have not officially backed a candidate, and most of its members appeared to have submitted blank ballot papers — 52 in total.