Najib Miqati

Najib Miqati

Najib Miqati , Arabic نجيب ميقاتي, DMG Naǧīb Mīqātī , also transcribed Mikati, (born November 24, 1955 in Tripoli ) is a Saudi - Lebanese politician and entrepreneur in the telecommunications industry. He was Prime Minister of Lebanon in 2005 and from 2011 to 2014 . He is considered pro- Syrian because he is a personal friend of the local President Bashar al-Assad .

Life

Miqati studied Business Administration at the American University of Beirut and graduated in 1980 with a master's degree . With his brother he founded Investcom , which both expanded considerably in the following years to a telecommunications company before it in 2006 at a cost of 5.5 billion US dollars to the South African MTN Group sold. Miqati is a co-founder of the conglomerate M1 Group .

Miqati's political career began in 1998 when he was elected member of the National Assembly for a constituency in Tripoli. He later became Minister for Public Works and Transport. He held this office from 1998 to 2004. On April 15, 2005, Miqati was appointed by President Émile Lahoud to succeed the resigned Prime Minister Omar Karami . His election by the National Assembly was seen as a severe defeat for the country's democracy movement, which had campaigned across all denominations against continued Syrian influence in Lebanon. Miqati held this office until he was replaced on June 30, 2005 by Fouad Siniora , a long-time confidante of Rafiq al-Hariri , whose assassination in February 2005 triggered the so-called " Cedar Revolution ".

In the 2009 election, Miqati was re-elected to parliament as an al-Hariri's ally.

After the failure of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri's government on January 12, 2011 because al-Hariri refused to withdraw support from the special tribunal for Lebanon, a government crisis broke out. Druze leader Walid Jumblat took the side of Hezbollah, clearing the way for the election of a successor to al-Hariri. On January 25, 2011, Miqati was elected as Saad al-Hariri's successor by the National Assembly with the votes of Hezbollah and its supporting parties . Miqati received 68 votes out of 128.

Although Miqati was nominated by the Shiite Hezbollah, he is a Sunni Muslim and was therefore only eligible for the office. In Lebanon, the Prime Minister must be Sunni, the President must be a Maronite Christian and the Speaker of Parliament must be Shiite.

On March 22, 2013, Miqati and his cabinet resigned. One day later, President Michel Sulaiman asked him to remain in office until a new government was formed. Miqati's resignation was preceded by tension with Hezbollah. In the run-up to the elections, which were actually scheduled for June 9, 2013, the coalition partners had not been able to agree on the creation of an election supervision authority. A dispute had also sparked over a possible extension of the term of office of secret service chief Ascharf Rifi. Oppositionists with Western attitudes fear that Hezbollah wants to fill this key position with a follower.

In April 2013, Tammam Salam was appointed to head a new government. Their formation takes more than ten months, so that Miqati remained Executive Prime Minister until Salam took over the office on February 15, 2014.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hezbollah installs premier: "Party of God" takes power in Lebanon. In: Spiegel Online . January 25, 2011, accessed February 26, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Dispute with Hezbollah: Lebanon's government resigns. In: Zeit Online . March 23, 2013, accessed February 26, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Deepened trenches because of Syria. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . March 24, 2013, accessed February 26, 2014 . 
4. ↑ Dispute with Hezbollah: Lebanon's government resigns. In: Spiegel Online . March 23, 2013, accessed February 26, 2014 . 
5. ^ End of a blockade that lasted for months: Lebanon has a new government. In: Spiegel Online . February 15, 2014, accessed February 26, 2014 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Omar Karami	Prime Minister of Lebanon April 15, 2005 - June 30, 2005	Fouad Siniora
Saad Hariri	Prime Minister of Lebanon January 25, 2011 - February 15, 2014	Tammam salam