Nayla Moawad

Nayla Moawad

Nayla Moawad (born July 3, 1940 in Bisharri ) ( Arabic : نيلة معوض) is a Lebanese politician . Outside of Lebanon, she is mostly known as the widow of former President René Moawad , who was murdered on November 22, 1989. She was first elected to the Lebanese National Assembly in 1991 , and after being re-elected in 2005, she became Minister of Social Affairs in the Cabinet on July 19.

Life

Nayla Issa El-Khouri was born in Bisharri to Nagib Issa El-Khouri and Evelyne Roch. Her father came from a well-known Maronite family and was a relative of Béchara el-Khoury , the first president of Lebanon after independence. She attended a Catholic school and then the Université Saint-Joseph , from which she graduated with a BA in French Literature and History . Later she studied English at the University of Cambridge in Great Britain .

From 1962 to 1965 Moawad worked as a journalist for the daily newspaper L'Orient . In 1965 she surprised by the marriage of René Moawad, the firstborn of a rival family clan who was 15 years her senior. Despite the age difference and traditional rejection between their two families, she led a happy marriage that resulted in two children, Rima, a Harvard graduate and now a lawyer, born in 1966 and Michel, who is a lawyer and businessman and at the Sorbonne in Paris studied, followed in 1972.

Parliamentary career

As a member of the National Assembly, Naila Moawad represents the electoral district of Zgharta - Tripoli in the governorate of North Lebanon . She has served on several parliamentary committees on finance, children's rights and education. She is a prominent member of the opposition party Qurnat Shahwan Collection , a coalition that opposed the Syrian military presence in Lebanon and supports the formation of a modern, democratic nation-state. She is also a member of the Democratic Forum , a group of Christian and Muslim parliamentarians against the pro-Syrian regime , and is affiliated with the National Front, a multi-denominational block of MPs that stands for political reform. In the election in Lebanon from May to June 2005, she defended her seat by a large margin.

In 2004 Moawad announced her candidacy for the presidential election, which should have taken place that year, but was postponed to 2007, apparently with the help of the Syrian government.

Web links

• René Moawad Foundation