Émile Lahoud

Émile Lahoud, 2003

Émile Geamil Lahoud ( Arabic إميل جميل لحود, DMG Imīl Ǧamīl Laḥūd ; * January 12, 1936 in Baabdat , Lebanon ) is a Lebanese politician and former military man, from 1998 to 2007 he was state president. He is the uncle of Nassib Lahoud and is of maternal Armenian descent. His maternal grandparents, Takouhi Kalebjian and Minas Sagerian, came from the Black Sea city ​​of Adabasar (now Adapazarı in Turkey ) and were killed during the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire .

Lahoud studied at several military academies at home and abroad. He was a career officer with the rank of general and before his election as president, he was the supreme commander of the armed forces of Lebanon . Under him, several militias were integrated into the Lebanese army after the civil war (1990). The Lebanese constitution was changed in 1998 under pressure from Syria in order to be able to elect a military person as president.

Lahoud had been Elias Hrawi's successor since 1998 and was confirmed in the parliamentary elections from August to October 2000. He was previously a career officer and commander in chief of the Lebanese army. Lahoud belongs to the Christian Maronite denomination.

Critics and opponents accuse him of being too close to the Syrians , who were often perceived as occupiers up until their withdrawal in 2005 . He was a political opponent of the former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri , who was killed in an attack on his convoy of vehicles . In 2004 he was appointed head of state for a further three years by the Lebanese parliament, contrary to the constitutional term limits.

In the weeks before Lahoud's end of office, a dispute broke out between the pro-Syrian and anti-Syrian parties over Lahoud's successor. Although the March 14 Alliance has a majority in parliament, it was not possible to agree on a common candidate. Since the pro-Syrian opposition threatened to boycott the ballot and thus parliament would not have had a quorum , the election of Lahoud's successor was postponed to November 30, despite the end of his term on November 23, 2007. Lahoud then transferred responsibility for the security and stability of the country to the Lebanese armed forces a few hours before the end of his term in office. He saw the danger of a state of emergency .

literature

• Emile Lahoud , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 18/2008 from April 29, 2008, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.oocities.org/heartland/ridge/6925/familyrel.htm
2. ↑ Poochigian Family History and Genealogy. Poochigian Archives, accessed June 12, 2012 . 
3. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger : President Poker in Lebanon ( Memento from December 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) from November 23, 2007.
4. ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung : Presidential elections in Lebanon postponed again from November 23, 2007.
5. ↑ Tagesschau : Army should fill the power vacuum (tagesschau.de archive) from November 24, 2007.

predecessor	Office	successor
Élias Hrawi	President of the Lebanese Republic 1998–2007	Michel Sulaiman