Émile Lahoud

Infobox President
name = Émile Lahoud
اميل لحود


order = President of Lebanon
term_start = 24 November 1998
term_end = 24 November 2007
predecessor = Elias Hrawi
successor = Fouad Siniora (Acting) [ [http://rulers.org/rull.html#lebanon Rulers.org - Lebanon] ]
birth_date = birth date and age|1936|01|12|df=y [http://www.presidency.gov.lb/president/biography/resume/resume.htm Résumé] , Presidency.gov.lb. Retrieved July 10, 2007]
birth_place = Beirut, Lebanon
death_date =
death_place =
spouse =
religion = Maronite Catholic
party =
General Émile Jamil Lahoud ( _ar. اميل لحود; born 12 January 1936) is a former President of Lebanon. He is the son of General Jamil Lahoud, a leader in the independence movement. His mother is of Armenian descent from the Armenian village of Kasab in Syria. Before being elected in 1998, he was Chief of Staff in the Army. Under Lebanon's unwritten constitutional agreement, Al Mithaq Alwatani, the presidency is earmarked for a Maronite Catholic, the parliament speaker's post for a Shiite Muslim and the prime minister's post is reserved for a Sunni Muslim.

Political life

Lahoud served under General Michel Aoun during the final years of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-90). After an Arab League-brokered cease-fire took effect, Lahoud crossed over into Syrian-controlled west Beirut. A Maronite military officer was needed to assume the position of army commander for the West Beirut-based Lebanese government endorsed by the 1989 Taif AgreementFact|date=February 2007. Lahoud was offered the position.

He served in various posts in the military, including commander-in-chief of the army from 1989 to 1998, and then ran for the presidency in 1998, after having the constitution amended to allow the army commander-in-chief to run for office within three years of holding that post.

Under the Lebanese constitution, the President's term was limited to one six-year term. However, under continued pressure from SyriaFact|date=March 2007, in 2004, the parliament voted to extend his term for an additional three years to 2007 (his predecessor, Elias Hrawi, did the same).

Family life

He is married to Andrée Amdouni and they have three children: Emile, Ralf and Carine who was married to Lebanon's defense minister Elias Murr.

Criticism

Maronite Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Leader of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, have been vocal critics.Fact|date=May 2008 Assassinated Sunni former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who had worked under Syrian support for many years, clashed with Damascus over the extension of Lahoud's term. Hariri was later killed by a car bomb after he resigned as part of the constitutional process of the extension and wasn't reconducted to office. Lebanese opposition blamed Syria for the attack.

References

External links

* [http://www.presidency.gov.lb/president/president.htm Republic of Lebanon - The President] official site

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