August 1982 Lebanese presidential election

Last updated

August 1982 Lebanese presidential election
Flag of Lebanon.svg
  1976 23 August 1982 September 1982  
  Bachir While Giving A Speech.jpg
Nominee Bachir Gemayel
Party Kataeb Party
Electoral vote57
Percentage62%

President before election

Élias Sarkis
Chehabist

Elected President

Bachir Gemayel
Kataeb Party

An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Lebanon on 23 August 1982, resulting in Lebanese Forces leader Bachir Gemayel being elected President of the Lebanese Republic. [1]

Contents

By convention, the presidency is always attributed to a Maronite Christian. Under the article 49 of the Lebanese Constitution, a qualified majority of two-thirds of the members of the then 99-seat Lebanese Parliament is required to elect the president in the first round. After the second round of election, the president is elected by an absolute majority of the total number of deputies in office. [2]

In the midst of the raging Lebanese Civil War, Syrian presence in the Bekaa and North Lebanon, and Israeli security belt in South Lebanon, outgoing president Elias Sarkis had failed to bring about reconciliation between warring factions. Under heavy American and Israeli support, Gemayel was able to garner the backing of Saudi Arabia (and by extension the Arab League) for his election to the presidency. With a boycott of pro-Syrian MPs, Gemayel was elected 7th President of Lebanon following independence from France in 1943. [3]

Results

As the Civil War had been resulted in the de facto partition of the country and militia everywhere, no election had taken place since 1972 for the Lebanese Parliament. Consequently, only 92 MPs out of 99 seats were still alive. After the quorum of two thirds was reached (62 out of 92 MPs attended), Gemayel was elected on the second round by a majority of Christian and Muslim MPs.

CandidateFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Bachir Gemayel 58635762
Raymond Edde 11--
Blank ballot35
Total62626767
Source: The Monthly

Aftermath

25 August : Deployment of International Separation Forces (mainly American, French, and Italian)

30 August  : Yasser Arafat leaves Beirut for Athens

1 September : Meeting between Presidents Gemayel and Elias Sarkis with American Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger

2 September : Opening the path of Sodeco that was previously considered as a separation line between East and West Beirut

4 September : The Lebanese Army enters West Beirut for the first time since 1973

9 September : The Lebanese Army enters the Palestinian Camp Bourj el-Barajneh and that was restricted since 1969 by the Cairo Agreement

10 September : The International Separation Forces leaves Lebanon after completing its task

11 September : Beirut's economic market resumes its activities; Gemayel meets with former Lebanese Prime Minister Saeb Salam.

13 September : Beirut's seaport resumes its activities

During these 21 days, fighters from the Lebanese Forces were prohibited from wearing their uniforms and also from carrying their weapons in the streets. The Lebanese Army was the only armed force in the streets. On the 14th of September 1982, Gemayel was assassinated in an explosion that killed more than thirty people by SSNP member Habib Shartouni, on the orders of Syria. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kataeb Party</span> Lebanese Christian democratic political party

The Kataeb Party, officially the Kataeb Party – Lebanese Social Democratic Party, also known as the Phalangist Party, is a right-wing Christian political party in Lebanon founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936. The party and its paramilitary wings played a major role in the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), opposing Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon as well as collaborating with Israel. During the 1982 war, Phalangist militiamen committed the infamous Sabra and Shatilla massacre with support from the IDF. The Phalangists were also responsible for the Black Saturday massacre, the Tel al-Zaatar massacre, Ehden massacre, and the Karantina massacre, some of the worst massacres committed during the Lebanese Civil War. In 1982, Pierre's youngest son Bachir, the leader of the party's militia, was elected President, but was assassinated before he could take office. He was succeeded by his older brother Amine, who led the party through much of the war. In decline in the late 1980s and 1990s, the party slowly re-emerged in the early 2000s and is currently part of the Lebanese opposition. The party currently holds 4 out of the 128 seats in the Lebanese Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amine Gemayel</span> Eighth President of Lebanon

Amine Pierre Gemayel is a Lebanese politician who served as the 8th president of Lebanon from 1982 to 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">René Moawad</span> 9th president of Lebanon (5-22 November 1989)

René Moawad was a Lebanese politician who served as the 9th president of Lebanon for 18 days, from 5 to 22 November 1989, before his assassination by unknown assailants.

The Hundred Days War was a subconflict within the 1977–82 phase of the Lebanese Civil War which occurred in the Lebanese capital Beirut. It was fought between the allied Christian Lebanese Front militias, under the command of the Kataeb Party's President Bachir Gemayel, and the Syrian troops of the Arab Deterrent Force (ADF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Gemayel</span> Lebanese politician (1905-1984)

Pierre Amine Gemayel, also spelled Jmayyel, Jemayyel or al-Jumayyil, was a Lebanese political leader. A Maronite Catholic, he is remembered as the founder of the Kataeb Party, as a parliamentary powerbroker, and as the father of Bachir Gemayel and Amine Gemayel, both of whom were elected to the presidency of the republic in his lifetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Élias Sarkis</span> Lebanese politician (1924–1985)

Élias Sarkis was a Lebanese lawyer and politician who served as the 6th president of Lebanon from 1976 to 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suleiman Frangieh</span> Fifth President of Lebanon

Suleiman Kabalan Frangieh was a Lebanese politician who served as the 5th president of Lebanon from 1970 to 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">President of Lebanon</span> Head of state of Lebanon

The presidentof the Lebanese Republic is the head of state of Lebanon. The president is elected by the parliament for a term of six years, which cannot be renewed immediately because they can only be renewed non-consecutively. By convention, the president is always a Maronite Christian who fulfills the same requirements as a candidate for the house of representatives, as per article 49 of the Lebanese constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lebanese Forces</span> Lebanese Christian nationalist political party and former militia

The Lebanese Forces is a Lebanese Christian-based political party and former militia during the Lebanese Civil War. It currently holds 19 of the 128 seats in Lebanon's parliament, being the largest party of the country.

Karim Pakradouni is a Lebanese attorney and politician of Armenian origin. He was influential in Kataeb Party, heading it for some period. He was also influential in the Lebanese Forces in various critical phases of the LF. He was also minister of state in Rafic Hariri's government in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bachir Gemayel</span> Lebanese politician and militia commander (1947–1982)

Bachir Pierre Gemayel was a Lebanese militia commander who led the Lebanese Forces, the military wing of the Kataeb Party, in the Lebanese Civil War and was elected President of Lebanon in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lebanese Forces (militia)</span> Lebanese Christian faction in the Lebanese Civil War

The Lebanese Forces was the main Lebanese Christian faction during the Lebanese Civil War. Resembling the Lebanese Front which was an umbrella organization for different parties, the Lebanese Forces was a militia consisting of fighters originating from the different right-wing parties. It was mainly staffed by Maronite Christians loyal to Bachir Gemayel, and fought against the Lebanese National Movement, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the Syrian Armed Forces among others. The group gained infamy for their perpetration of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, which primarily targeted Palestinian refugees following Gemayel's assassination.

An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Lebanon on 13 October 1998, resulting in General Emile Lahoud being elected President of the Lebanese Republic.

An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Lebanon on 24 November 1989, resulting in Deputy Elias Hrawi being elected President of the Lebanese Republic.

An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Lebanon on 5 November 1989, resulting in Deputy René Moawad being elected President of the Lebanese Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1970 Lebanese presidential election</span>

An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Lebanon on 17 August 1970, resulting in Deputy Suleiman Frangieh being elected President of the Lebanese Republic.

An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Lebanon on 8 May 1976, resulting in MP Élias Sarkis being elected President of the Lebanese Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1964 Lebanese presidential election</span>

An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Lebanon on August 18, 1964, resulting in Charles Helou being elected President of the Lebanese Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">September 1982 Lebanese presidential election</span>

An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Lebanon on September 21, 1982, resulting in Kataeb politician Amine Gemayel being elected President of the Lebanese Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of Bachir Gemayel</span> 1982 bombing of the Kataeb Party headquarters

On 14 September 1982, a bomb was detonated during a meeting of the right-wing Christian Kataeb Party in the Beirut neighborhood of Achrafieh. Militia commander and Lebanese president-elect Bachir Gemayel and 23 other Kataeb Party politicians were killed in the blast.

References

  1. "Cheikh Bachir Gemayel - Presidency of the Republic of Lebanon". Presidency.gov.lb. Retrieved 2022-12-25.
  2. Rabbath, Edmond. "La Constitution libanaise. Origines, textes et commentaires". Beyrouth: Publications de l'Université Libanaise, 1982, p. 301.
  3. Gargan, Edward A. (15 September 1982). "Bashir Gemayel Lived by the Sword". The New York Times.
  4. "Les assassins de l'ex-président libanais Bachir Gemayel condamnés à mort". 20 October 2017.