Nassib Lahoud
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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 the Democratic Renewal Movement and a leading figure in the March 14 coalition, which nominated him as their presidential candidate when they held the parliamentary majority in 2008. His election was vetoed by Hezbollah and its allies, who refused to attend parliament and threatened not to recognise any president who was not the product of a consensus agreement between Lebanese political forces. President Michel Suleiman was elected to the post on 25 May 2008. Upon his death, Nassib Lahoud was referred to as the "President of our dreams" by Hezbollah's opponents as well as journalists and prominent members of civil society.


Early life and education

Nassib Lahoud was born in
Baabdat Baabdat () is a town located in the Matn District of Mount Lebanon, 22 km from Beirut at an altitude ranging between 600 and 1100 meters above sea level. The lush pine forests that surround the town make it a very popular summer resort for t ...
,
Matn Matn () is an Islamic term that is used in relation to Hadith terminology. It means the text of the hadith, excluding the isnad. Use A hadith is made of both an isnad (chain of transmission) and a matn. A hadith would typically adopt the f ...
,
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 ...
on 23 November 1944. He was a member of the
Lahoud family Lahoud (; ), also spelled LaHood in the United States or Lajud in Latin America, is a Maronites, Maronite Lebanese family name. The name etymologically derives from the Aramaic "ܠܚܽܘܕܳܝܳܐ", meaning "one who stands alone," historically in ...
, one of the most prominent Lebanese-Christian political families (See
List of political families This is an incomplete list of prominent political families. Monarchical dynasties are not included, unless certain descendants have played political roles in a republican structure (e.g. Arslan family of Lebanon and Cakobau family of Fiji). ...
). He was the son of ex-Member of Parliament, former minister of foreign affairs and minister of defense
Salim Lahoud Salim Nassib Lahoud (1910–1971) was a Lebanese Maronite Christian political figure who was a Member of Parliament and Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Defense of Lebanon in the 1950s among other ministerial posts. Lahoud was the father ...
under President
Camille Chamoun Camille Nimr Chamoun (, ; 3 April 19007 August 1987) was a Lebanese politician who served as the 2nd president of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958. He was one of the country's main Christian leaders during most of the Lebanese Civil War. Early yea ...
in the 1960s. Lahoud earned a BS degree in electrical engineering from Loughborough University, United Kingdom in 1968.


Career

After finishing his engineering studies, Lahoud founded Lahoud Engineering Co. Ltd. London (1972); the company's activities are mostly the construction of large-scale power and heavy industry plants. Lahoud had a career as businessman, both within Lahoud Engineering, and in the field of real estate, and was one of the largest landowners in the Metn. Lahoud was also a prolific art collector, and was particularly interested in European impressionist masters as well as Lebanese contemporary artists. Throughout his years as a businessman, Lahoud was active in Lebanese politics and was close to President Camille Chamoun until 1972, when Chamoun supported another candidate at the parliamentary elections. In the 1980s, still living in Mayfair, London, Lahoud became less interested in business and shifted his focus to Lebanese politics.


Politics

After his backstage participation in the
Taif Taif (, ) is a city and governorate in Mecca Province in Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat Mountains, the city has a population of 563,282 people in 2022, mak ...
conference in
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
, which ended the destructive Lebanese civil war, he became ambassador to the
United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...
, where he had high-level relationships with leading U.S. politicians. In 1991 he returned to Lebanon and was appointed Maronite Christian parliamentarian of the Metn region. He was re-elected in organised legislative elections in 1992, 1996 and in 2000. From the beginning of his political life, he situated himself in the opposition to the pro-Syrian governments that ruled the country. He opposed the economic policies of the late prime minister
Rafiq 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 Syrian interference in the Lebanese political scene. He voted against the constitutional amendments imposed by Syria to extend the mandates of presidents
Elias Hrawi Elias Hrawi (; 4 September 1926 – 7 July 2006) was a Lebanese politician who served as the 10th president of Lebanon from 1989 to 1998. Early life and education Hrawi was born on 4 September 1926 in Hawch Al Umara, Zahlé, to a wealthy landow ...
in 1995, and Emile Lahoud in 2004. In 2001 he joined the
Qornet Shehwan Gathering The Qornet Shehwan Gathering () is a Lebanese political organization, comprising politicians, intellectuals, and businesspeople, mostly Christian and ranging in ideology from the centre-right to the centre-left. The organization is not a politi ...
, regrouping prominent Christian opposition figures under the patronage of
Maronite Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...
Patriarch
Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir ('; ; ; 15 May 1920 – 12 May 2019) was the 76th Maronite Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch and the Whole Levant and head of the Maronite Church from 1986 to 2011. He was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1994. E ...
. The same year, he founded along with about two hundreds and fifty Lebanese intellectuals (including Misbah Ahdab, Camille Ziadé, Nadim Salem,
Antoine Haddad Antoine Haddad (Arabic: أنطوان حداد; born 1954, Ain Dara, Lebanon) is an academic, consultant, and social and political activist. After 40 years of experience in university teaching and scientific research, during which he held sever ...
, Ziad Baroud, Wafic Zantout, Mona Fayad, Hareth Sleiman, Malek Mroueh, and Melhem Chaoul) the Democratic Renewal Movement. A movement that presents itself as a reformist and laic, opposition political movement. He was a prominent figure of the anti-Syrian opposition movement that started to organise after the extension of the pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud's term and which gained more political weight following the assassination of
Rafiq 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 ...
on 14 February 2005. The Democratic Renewal Movement was part of 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 ...
, which started as an anti-Syrian coalition. Nassib Lahoud took part in the 2005 legislative elections in his Metn district, at the head of the opposition list. He lost the elections against Michel Aoun's
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 ...
and allied pro-Syrian figures.


Presidential elections

Nassib Lahoud was since 1995 considered to be one of the most serious candidates for the presidency. Despite his defeat in the parliamentary elections in 2005, after four terms in office, he announced that he was prepared to run for president if 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 ...
- with a majority in parliament - decided to back him. His willingness to run for the presidency was part of a wider campaign to remove the pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud (Nassib's cousin) who was widely considered to be the last bastion of Syrian
hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states, either regional or global. In Ancient Greece (ca. 8th BC – AD 6th c.), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of ...
over the country. In 2008 the parliamentary majority ultimately designated Lahoud as its presidential nominee but the
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 ...
-led opposition refused to attend a legislative session to elect a new president, thus ensuring there was no quorum. President
Michel Suleiman 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 ...
was later elected by consensus after Hezbollah threatened not to yield to a state if the president was Nassib Lahoud or any other candidate chosen by the parliamentary majority. Testament to the political tension prevalent during those times, Hezbollah supporters eventually attacked March 14 majority-affiliated buildings and newspapers in Beirut, in a show of force reminiscent of the days of the Lebanese civil war. This was due to a refusal by the government to rescind two controversial executive decrees that aimed to dismantle Hezbollah's private telecommunications system as well as sack the military general responsible for airport security. Nassib Lahoud was later appointed Minister of State, as the representative of the Ex-
Qornet Shehwan Gathering The Qornet Shehwan Gathering () is a Lebanese political organization, comprising politicians, intellectuals, and businesspeople, mostly Christian and ranging in ideology from the centre-right to the centre-left. The organization is not a politi ...
, in the first government under President
Michel Suleiman 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 ...
's mandate. Lahoud refused to run at the next parliamentary elections alongside old symbols of Syrian hegemony over Lebanon, even though they were now new independent allies of the March 14 coalition. He thus withdrew from the 2009 parliamentary elections,


Personal life

Lahoud was married to Abla Fustuq, with whom he had two children, Salim and Joumana. He also had a step-daughter, Roula. Abla is part of the Fustuq business family, based in London. She is the sister of Mahmoud Fustuq and Aida Fustuq, who was once married to Saudi ruler King Abdullah. Lahoud was very fond of his hometown Baabdat in the Metn. He was known for many high-profile friends and relationships within politics, arts, business, academics and society around the world. An avid
chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
and
backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back at least 1,600 years. The earliest record of backgammo ...
player, as well as art collector, Lahoud had close family and business ties with the Saudis.


Death

Lahoud died at the age of 67 at Hotel Dieu Hospital in Ashrafieh, Beirut on 1 February 2012 after a long illness. He received a state funeral which was attended by the President and the Prime Minister and posthumous homages were published in many newspapers and Web sites.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lahoud, Nassib 1944 births 2012 deaths Alumni of Loughborough University Ambassadors of Lebanon to the United States Candidates for President of Lebanon Democratic Renewal (Lebanon) politicians Ministers without portfolio of Lebanon Lahoud family Lebanese Maronites Members of the Parliament of Lebanon Lebanese engineers Electrical engineers People of the Lebanese Civil War 20th-century Lebanese diplomats