Lebanese presidential election, 1970

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Lebanese presidential election, 1970
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←  1964 17 August 1970 1976  →

  Suleiman Frangieh - FOCR.jpg Elias Sarkis.jpeg
Nominee Suleiman Frangieh Élias Sarkis
Party Marada Movement Chehabist
Electoral vote 50 49
Percentage 50.51% 49.49%
President before election

Henri Helou
Chehabist

Elected President

Suleiman Frangieh
Marada Movement

Lebanon
Coat of Arms of Lebanon.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Lebanon

An indirect presidential election was held in the Parliament of Lebanon on 5 November 1970, resulting in Deputy Suleiman Frangieh being elected President of the Lebanese Republic.

Parliament of Lebanon parliament

The Parliament of Lebanon is the national parliament of Lebanon. There are 128 members elected to a four-year term in multi-member constituencies, apportioned among Lebanon's diverse Christian and Muslim denominations. Lebanon has universal adult suffrage. Its major functions are to elect the President of the republic, to approve the government, and to approve laws and expenditure.

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. [1]

The National Pact is an unwritten agreement that laid the foundation of Lebanon as a multiconfessional state, having shaped the country to this day. Following negotiations between the Shia, Sunni, and Maronite leaderships, the National Pact was born in the summer of 1943, allowing Lebanon to be independent.

A majority is the greater part, or more than half, of the total. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements.

Suleiman Frangieh, a deputy representing Zgharta in North Lebanon, posed as a conservative consensus candidate, gaining the support from both the left and right and across religious factions due to backlash from the 12 continuous years of reform from the Chehabist regimes. In what was possibly the most controversial presidential election in Lebanon, he was elected by the thinnest margin possible - on a 1 vote difference - on the 17 August 1970 by 50 of the 99 Representatives.

Fuad Chehab Lebanese politician

Fuad Abdullah Chehab was the President of the Lebanese Republic from 1958 to 1964.

Results

All 99 MPs were present. Usually, a consensus candidate would have been agreed before-hand, however in this case both Frangieh and Sarkis had roughly equal support In the first round, a majority of two-thirds of present deputies was required; in the second and subsequent rounds, however, only a simple majority was needed. [2]

In the first round, no one received the 2/3 threshold needed, therefore the election proceeded to the second round. In that round, however, an extra ballot was cast (there were 100 votes in the urn and only 99 deputies in total), therefore the round was negated. In the third round, Frangieh won an upset victory over Élias Sarkis, the official candidate of the Chehabist regime, due to a last minute change of Kamal Jumblatt, who ordered one of his deputies to vote for Frangieh [3] . The Speaker of the Chamber, Sabri Hamadeh, refused to announce the results on a 1-vote difference and walked out of the parliament building. As he exited the chamber, Deputy Speaker Michel Georges Sassine exercised his functions as Acting Speaker and declared Suleiman Frangieh the 10th President of the Lebanese Republic [4] .

Sabri Hamadeh Lebanese politician

Sabri Hamadeh (1902-1976) was a Lebanese politician and long-time Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament.

Michel Georges Sassine Lebanese politician

Michel Georges Sassine was a prominent Lebanese politician. He was a member of the Lebanese parliament for twenty-four consecutive years (1968–1992) representing the district of Ashrafieh, Beirut. He served several times as Vice-Prime Minister, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, and cabinet Minister. He founded the Ministry of Housing and Cooperatives, and was appointed as Minister of Labor, Tourism and others in more than seven governments. Throughout his political career he was renowned for his strong ethics and anti-corruption principles. He took the lead on several historic turning points including the 1970 Presidential election, and the Taif Agreement in 1990.

President of Lebanon

The President of the Lebanese Republic is the head of state of Lebanon. The president is elected by the parliament for a term of six years, which is not immediately renewable. By convention, the president is always a Maronite Christian.

CandidateFirst roundSecond roundThird round
Votes%Votes%Votes%
Suleiman Frangieh 3838.45050.5
Élias Sarkis 4545.54949.5
Pierre Gemayel 1010.1
Jamil Lahoud 55.1
Adnan Hakim 11.0
Extra ballot0–1–0–
Total99100100–99100
Eligible voters/turnout9910099–99100
Source: The Monthly

Aftermath

About 5 years later, the Lebanese Civil War began as armed right-wing Christian militias began clashing more often with left-wing Muslim PLO militias in Beirut.

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References

  1. ↑ Rabbath, Edmond. "La Constitution libanaise. Origines, textes et commentaires". Beyrouth: Publications de l'Université Libanaise, 1982, p. 301.
  2. ↑ Election of the Presidents of the Lebanese Republic The Monthly, 9 July 2014
  3. ↑ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263208008700424
  4. ↑ https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/Interview/talking_to_edmund_rizk
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