Presidential Elections
Nassib Lahoud was since 1995 considered to be one of the most serious candidates for the presidency. Despite his defeat in the parliamentary elections in 2005, after four terms in office, he announced that he was prepared to run for president if the March 14 Alliance - with a majority in parliament - decided to back him. His willingness to run for the presidency was part of a wider campaign to remove the pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud (Nassib's cousin) who was widely considered to be the last bastion of Syrian hegemony over the country.
In 2008 the parliamentary majority ultimately designated Lahoud as its presidential nominee but the Hezbollah-led opposition refused to attend a legislative session to elect a new president, thus ensuring there was no quorum. President Michel Suleiman was later elected by consensus, after Hezbollah threatened not to yield to a state if the president was Nassib Lahoud or any other candidate chosen by the parliamentary majority.
Testament to the political tension prevalent during those times, Hezbollah supporters eventually attacked March 14 majority-affiliated buildings and newspapers in Beirut, in a show of force reminiscent of the days of the Lebanese civil war. This was due to a refusal by the government to rescind two controversial executive decrees that aimed to dismantle Hezbollah's private telecommunications system as well as sack the military general responsible for airport security.
Nassib Lahoud was later appointed Minister of State, as the representative of the Ex-Qornet Shehwan Gathering, in the first government under President Michel Suleiman's mandate. Lahoud refused to run at the next parliamentary elections alongside old symbols of Syrian hegemony over Lebanon, even though they were now new independent allies of the March 14 coalition. He thus withdrew from the 2009 parliamentary elections,
Read more about this topic: Nassib Lahoud
Famous quotes containing the words presidential and/or elections:
“The Republican Vice Presidential Candidate ... asks you to place him a heartbeat from the Presidency.”
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965)
“In my public statements I have earnestly urged that there rested upon government many responsibilities which affect the moral and spiritual welfare of our people. The participation of women in elections has produced a keener realization of the importance of these questions and has contributed to higher national ideals. Moreover, it is through them that our national ideals are ingrained in our children.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)