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An indirect presidential election was held in the
Parliament of Lebanon The Lebanese Parliament (, ) is the unicameral national parliament of the Lebanon, Republic of Lebanon. There are 128 members elected to a four-year term in Electoral district, multi-member constituencies, apportioned among Lebanon's divers ...
on 25 May 2008,"Lebanese parliament elects Suleiman as president"
Xinhua, May 25, 2008.
after the term of incumbent President
Émile Lahoud Émile Jamil Lahoud (born 12 January 1936) is a Lebanese politician who served as the 11th president of Lebanon from 1998 to 2007. During his presidency, the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, that had lasted since 1982, ended in May 2000. ...
expired on 24 November 2007 at midnight. General
Michel Sleiman Michel Suleiman ( ; born 21 November 1948) is a Lebanese politician who served as the 12th president of Lebanon from 2008 to 2014. Before becoming president, he served as commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces from 1998 to 2008. After Lebanese A ...
, the Commander of the
Lebanese Armed Forces The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF; ), also known as the Lebanese Army (), is the national military of the Republic of Lebanon. It consists of three branches, the ground forces, the air force, and the navy. The motto of the Lebanese Armed Forces is ...
, was elected as the consensus candidate after months of delays in holding the election due to an ongoing political dispute. By convention, the presidency is always attributed to a
Maronite Christian Lebanese Maronite Christians (; ) refers to Lebanese people who are members of the Maronite Church in Lebanon, the largest Christian body in the country. The Lebanese Maronite population is concentrated mainly in Mount Lebanon and East Beir ...
personality. Under the article 49 of the Lebanese Constitution, a
qualified majority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fund ...
of two-thirds of the members of the 128-seat
Lebanese Parliament The Lebanese Parliament (, ) is the unicameral national parliament of the Lebanon, Republic of Lebanon. There are 128 members elected to a four-year term in Electoral district, multi-member constituencies, apportioned among Lebanon's divers ...
is required to elect the president. After the second round of election, the president is elected by an
absolute majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the " Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a gr ...
of 65 MPs out of 128.


Postponement and delays

The requested
quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a group necessary to constitute the group at a meeting. In a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature), a quorum is necessary to conduct the business of ...
was not formed in the first round (scheduled on 25 September 2007) since opposition MPs boycotted the
parliamentary session A legislative session is the period of time in which a legislature, in both parliamentary and presidential systems, is convened for purpose of lawmaking, usually being one of two or more smaller divisions of the entire time between two elections. ...
. Parliament Speaker
Nabih Berri Nabih Mustafa Berri ( ; born 28 January 1938) is a Lebanese politician who has been serving as Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon since 1992. He heads the Amal Movement and its parliamentary wing, Development and Liberation Bloc. Early lif ...
initially postponed the session to October 23, 2007, as previously suggested. The session was then further postponed to 12 November 2007, then to 21 November 2007 and finally to 23 November 2007, when the incumbent's term ends. However, on 23 November the session was further postponed until 30 November 2007, and then to 7 December 2007. On December 7 the reforms to the Constitution needed to elect consensus candidate General Michel Sleiman had not been finished yet and the vote was postponed again to 11 December 2007. On that date, it was postponed to 17 December 2007, and then again to 22 December 2007 and to 29 December 2007. On 28 December, it was again delayed to 12 January 2008;"Lebanon's presidential election postpones again"
, Xinhua, December 29, 2007.
on 11 January it was again delayed to 21 January 2008,"Lebanon presidential vote postponed for 12th time"
, AFP, January 11, 2008.
and then, on 20 January, it was delayed to 11 February 2008.
Xinhua, 20 January 2008.
On 9 February, it was again delayed to 26 February 2008,"Lebanon presidential vote delayed to Feb 26"
, AFP, 9 February 2008.
and on 25 February 2008 again delayed until 11 March 2008,"Lebanon presidential vote delayed to March: house speaker"
, AFP, February 25, 2008.
then on 9 March 2008 delayed until 25 March 2008."Lebanon presidential vote postponed for 16th time"
, AFP, March 10, 2008.
It was then delayed on 24 March 2008 to 22 April 2008. On 22 April 2008, the session was postponed and on 26 April the new date was set to 13 May 2008. Parliament postponed a vote on a new Lebanese president for the 19th time, delaying the session to June 10, 2008. After the Doha Agreement was decided upon on 21 May 2008, a session to elect the president was called on 22 May 2008 to occur on 25 May 2008."Lebanon to hold presidential election on Sunday"
Xinhua (''People's Daily Online''), May 22, 2008.
On this date, Michel Sleiman was finally elected. Four candidates from the
March 14 Alliance The March 14 Alliance (), named after the date of the Cedar Revolution, was a coalition of political party, political parties and independents in Lebanon formed in 2005 that were united by their anti-Ba'athist Syria, Assad stance and by their opp ...
were among the possible standing candidates: MP
Boutros Harb Cheikh Boutros Harb (; born 3 August 1944) is a Lebanese politician who served at different cabinet posts including Minister of public works and transportation, Minister of education and Minister of Telecommunications. Early life and educatio ...
, Minister of Justice Charles Rizk, MP Robert Ghanem and former MP
Nassib Lahoud Nassib Lahoud (23 November 19441 February 2012) was a Lebanese political figure. He held various posts including Member of parliament, Ambassador to the United States of America, and Minister of State ( without portfolio) . He was also head of t ...
. MP Michel Aoun from the
Free Patriotic Movement The Free Patriotic Movement (, ) is a Lebanese political party. Founded by Michel Aoun in 1994, the party is currently led by Aoun's son-in-law Gebran Bassil since 2015. History Background For many years, while Michel Aoun was and exiled i ...
is the single opposition candidate.


Voting and results

The
vote Voting is the process of choosing officials or policies by casting a ballot, a document used by people to formally express their preferences. Republics and representative democracies are governments where the population chooses representative ...
was expected to be tense, especially after the assassination of Phalangist MP
Antoine Ghanem Antoine Ghanem (; 10 August 1943 – 19 September 2007) was a Lebanese politician and an Member of Parliament, MP in the Lebanese Parliament. He was also a member of the Kataeb party and the March 14 Coalition. He was murdered on 19 Septembe ...
on 19 September 2007. March 14 leaders, who blame the
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
n government for the assassination of Ghanem, vowed to hold the presidential election as scheduled and to possibly elect a March 14 candidate as president even by
simple majority Simple majority may refer to: * Majority, a voting requirement of more than half of all votes cast * Plurality (voting), a voting requirement of more votes cast for a proposition than for any other option * First-past-the-post voting, the single-win ...
after the second round. The opposition, which includes
Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...
, Amal and the
Free Patriotic Movement The Free Patriotic Movement (, ) is a Lebanese political party. Founded by Michel Aoun in 1994, the party is currently led by Aoun's son-in-law Gebran Bassil since 2015. History Background For many years, while Michel Aoun was and exiled i ...
, demanded the formation of a national unity cabinet and warned that an election by simple majority would result in the formation of a shadow cabinet. An opinion poll by IPSOS and published on 17 September 2005 suggested that the majority of Lebanese may look favourably at a consensual candidate. The LAF Chief Commander
Michel Sleiman Michel Suleiman ( ; born 21 November 1948) is a Lebanese politician who served as the 12th president of Lebanon from 2008 to 2014. Before becoming president, he served as commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces from 1998 to 2008. After Lebanese A ...
, the Governor of the
Central Bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...
Riad Salame and the former FA Minister
Jean Obeid Jean Obeid (; 8 May 19398 February 2021) was a Lebanese lawyer, journalist and politician, who served in different cabinet posts, the last of which was foreign minister of Lebanon from 2003 to 2004. Early life and education Obeid hailed from a M ...
were credited as possible "consensual" candidates. Sleiman turned out to be the eventual consensus candidate, but his election required constitutional amendments allowing senior state officials to become president. The term of the ex-president
Émile Lahoud Émile Jamil Lahoud (born 12 January 1936) is a Lebanese politician who served as the 11th president of Lebanon from 1998 to 2007. During his presidency, the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, that had lasted since 1982, ended in May 2000. ...
was extended for three years in 2004, allegedly under pressure from the
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
n government. Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April 2005, after the assassination of former prime minister
Rafik Hariri Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri (; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004. Hariri headed five cabinets during his tenu ...
and the subsequent mass demonstrations known as
Cedar Revolution The Cedar Revolution (), also known as the Independence uprising (), was a chain of demonstrations in Lebanon (especially in the capital Beirut) triggered by the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. The popular movemen ...
. The general election in Spring 2005 resulted in a majority of 72 seats out of 128 for the anti-Syrian
March 14 Alliance The March 14 Alliance (), named after the date of the Cedar Revolution, was a coalition of political party, political parties and independents in Lebanon formed in 2005 that were united by their anti-Ba'athist Syria, Assad stance and by their opp ...
.


Consensus emerges

On 29 November 2007, opposition leader Michel Aoun announced that he was in favour of
Michel Sleiman Michel Suleiman ( ; born 21 November 1948) is a Lebanese politician who served as the 12th president of Lebanon from 2008 to 2014. Before becoming president, he served as commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces from 1998 to 2008. After Lebanese A ...
becoming the next president of Lebanon. A constitutional amendment will have to be passed with a two-thirds majority in Lebanon's parliament to allow military commanders to move directly into the presidential office, but it seems certain that the majority will be achieved with both Aoun and the 14 March Alliance in favour. On 3 December, the March 14 Alliance announced it would draft a constitutional amendment to allow Sleiman to become president. Sleiman, however, threatened to withdraw from the presidential race if the parties were not able to come to agreement. A compromise deal was finally reached on 21 May 2008 (dealing with the issues of a new electoral law, a unity government and Hezbollah's disarmament), leading to Sleiman's election on 25 May 2008 as planned."Lebanon rivals agree crisis deal"
BBC News, May 21, 2008.
Out of the 127 votes, Sleiman received 118, while three members of parliament voted for others and six abstained.


References

{{Lebanese presidential elections Presidential elections in Lebanon
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Michel Aoun
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...