On Thursday, Lebanon elected its first president in two years — Army Chief Joseph Aoun, 60. However, not everyone was on board, with one member of Parliament casting their vote for the Vermont senator instead.

Sanders’s name was read aloud during the count to a mix of confusion and amusement. Speaker Nabih Berri exclaimed, “What?”

The Washington Examiner reached out to Sanders for comment.

Unfortunately for the member, Sanders is ineligible to be Lebanon’s president, as he is neither a Lebanese citizen nor a Maronite Christian — the requirements for the position stipulated in the Constitution.

According to Roya News, the vote was later annulled and removed from the tally.

Sanders wasn’t the only protest vote – another member wrote, “O, pity my homeland.”

Another member voted for former President Michel Aoun, who is of no relation to Joseph Aoun.

The Sanders vote wasn’t the only brush with U.S. politics during the election. Supporters unfurled a banner of Joseph Aoun under the slogan “Make Lebanon Great Again.”

Joseph Aoun has served as commander of the Army since 2017, guiding the rare stable institution in Lebanon through the worst political crises it has faced since the withdrawal of Syrian troops from the country in 2005. He largely stayed clear of politics while maintaining the army, which was rocked by the currency collapse beginning in 2019, the Beirut port explosion, the COVID-19 pandemic, the two-year vacancy of the presidency, and the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which devastated much of the country’s infrastructure.

Joseph Aoun rarely made public political statements before his election and even eschewed most politicking during his candidacy, according to Reuters.

According to CNN, Joseph Aoun was helped by close allies Saudi Arabia and the United States, who rallied support.

Joseph Aoun won in a landslide, receiving 99 parliamentary votes out of 128 in the second round. The victory was helped by Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, which said it voted for him in the second round, though not the first, for the purpose of “national cohesion.”

Nevertheless, Joseph Aoun promised in his victory speech to “monopolize weapons,” a clear dig at Hezbollah, which has an arsenal estimated to be several times more powerful than that of the Lebanese military.

Sanders has been heavily critical of Israel’s actions post-Oct. 7, primarily focused on its actions in Gaza but also speaking out against its actions in Lebanon.

On Sept. 20, Sanders led his colleagues in introducing Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block the sale of over $20 billion worth of U.S. weaponry, partly due to the “dramatic escalation in Lebanon,” then referring to the pager/walkie-talkie attack.