Who’s the supermodel who got one vote to be Lebanon’s president?

Dubai: Imagine Lebanese citizens having woken up on Tuesday with supermodel Myriam Klink as the new president of the republic.

That’s what one anonymous Lebanese politician may have been hoping for, perhaps in jest, when her name was called out during Monday’s presidential vote in parliament.

“Myriam Klink,” called out Lebanese Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, while reading out the parliamentarians’ votes during the election process on Monday, followed by a burst of laughter from lawmakers.

The winner of the vote was Maronite Christian leader Michel Aoun, with 83 votes. He was elected as president on Monday following a more than a two-and-a-half year vacuum in the Baabda Presidential Palace amid a severe political gridlock across the country.

Berri declared the vote [for Klink] void, only to be confronted by Sami Gemayel demanding why he did so. He responded: “Because she’s [an] Orthodox [Christian]”, with parliament breaking into laughter again. In Lebanon’s sectarian political framework, the presidency is reserved for a Christian from the Maronite sect.

Most of those who opposed Aoun’s candidacy for the presidency cast empty ballots or wrote political slogans instead.

A longtime model who has been criticised for racy music videos and confrontational interviews, Serbian-Lebanese Myriam Klink’s photos and images went viral on social media following the presidential vote.

In one raunchy image, Klink is shown wearing an orange-coloured bikini and holding an orange flag with the famous-seven sign of the Free Patriotic Movement that Aoun belongs to. In another image she is shown licking a strawberry and saying ‘Even in parliament I’ve got [a fan]’. Another meme showed Aoun himself apparently writing Klink’s name on the ballot.

Known for being an enthusiastic environmental and animal rights activist, the model has often been ridiculed for making controversial political statements.

Klink’s moment of further fame prompted LBC channel’s famous political talk show host, Marcel Ganem, to invite her to his show ‘Kalam Al Nas’. When asked about the bikini picture, she told the host she wore it because it is her way of turning the country’s public opinion “upside down”. She however criticised the comments of former presidential hopeful and Lebanese Forces’ chief Samir Geagea, who she said had described her in an unacceptable and denigrating way.

When she was asked by Ganem who she felt had voted for her in parliament, Myriam said she believed it was a parliamentarian whose dog she liked. The hint was likely a reference to Druze leader Walid Joumblatt, whose dog Looky is famous thanks to its master’s own media prowess. Jumblatt had however pledged at least eight votes from his party for Aoun.

Klink also criticised Lebanon’s controversial sectarian political system, saying the constitution does not bar a Greek Orthodox from running for president. The National Pact that requires a president to be Maronite, the premier to be a Sunni and the speaker of parliament to be Shiite, is an unwritten arrangement dating back to 1943.

She did however thank the mystery politician who voted for her and called on him or her to come out and reveal themselves.