Update 2: Lebanon parliament starts election expected to end 2.5-year presidential vacancy

Lebanon's parliament started proceedings for electing a president on Monday after the required quorum was reached, a development expected to fill the post that has been left vacant for more than two years and five months.

Michel Aoun, head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) who also heads the "Change and Reform" bloc in parliament, is expected to be elected, filling up the vacancy left by former president Michel Suleiman, whose six-year term ended in May 2014.

Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Abdel Karim Ali was among dignitaries invited to attend the election.

Aoun, a Christian former army chief, is allied with the Iran-backed Hezbollah party whose forces are fighting in Syria alongside forces of the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The expected election of Aoun as president came after the surprise endorsement of his candidacy by Saad Hariri, a former prime minister now heading al-Mustaqbal Movement.

A fierce opponent of the Assad government in Syria, Hariri is the leader of a bloc that rivals Hezbollah and enjoys the support of Saudi Arabia.

Aoun is expected to nominate Hariri to return as prime minister, but with little consensus in the political landscape, the process of forming a government is likely to be long and arduous.

Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014.

Since then, parliament has held 45 failed sessions to elect a successor, each time failing to make quorum.

According to the constitution, the president should be elected with two thirds of votes in the 128-seat parliament in the first round, and with a simple majority in the following rounds.

The power sharing pact stipulates that the president should be a Christian Maronite, the speaker a Muslim Shiite and the premier a Muslim Sunni. Endit