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Second Lebanese Republic

Republic of Lebanon
الجمهورية اللبنانية (Arabic)
al-Jumhūrīyah al-Lubnānīyah
Anthem: كلّنا للوطن (Arabic)
Koullouna lilouataan lil oula lil alam
(English: All of us! For our Country!)
Location of Lebanon (in green)
Location of Lebanon (in green)
Capital
and largest city
Beirut
33°54′N 35°32′E / 33.900°N 35.533°E / 33.900; 35.533
Official languagesArabic
Recognised languagesFrench
Local vernacularLebanese Arabic
Demonym(s)Lebanese
GovernmentUnitary confessionalist parliamentary republic
• President
Vacant
Najib Mikati
Nabih Berri
LegislatureParliament
Establishment
22 October 1989
CurrencyLebanese pound (LBP)
Calling code+961
ISO 3166 codeLB
Internet TLD.lb

The Second Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية الثانية, romanized: Al-Jumhūriyyah Aṯ-ṯāniyah) is Lebanon's current republican system of government. It was established on 22 October 1989 by Lebanese political leaders and business people under the Taif Agreement.[1][2]

The Second Republic emerged from the slow erosion of the Lebanese Civil War and ratification of the National Reconciliation Accord, replacing the disproportional representation of the religious sects in Lebanon from 55:45 to 1:1 proportional representation of Christians and Muslims in parliament and political powers of Muslim-reserved prime ministerial position strengthened over Christian-reserved presidency position. This agreement, however, was put into practice on 24 December 1990. René Moawad was the first head of state to have been elected under this republic.[3]

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Background

See also: Lebanese Civil War

Taif Agreement

The agreement covered political reform, the ending of the Lebanese Civil War, the establishment of special relations between Lebanon and Syria, and a framework for the beginning of complete Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. Since Rafik Hariri was a former Saudi diplomatic representative, he played a significant role in constructing the Taif Agreement.[4] It is also argued that the Taif Accord reoriented Lebanon toward the Arab world, especially Syria.[5] In other words, the Taif Accord positioned Lebanon as a country with "an Arab identity and belonging."[6] The agreement was finalized and confirmed only after the development of an anti-Saddam Hussein international alliance.[7] The alliance included Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, France, Iran and the United States.[7]

The agreement contained multiple constitutional amendments, which came into force following President Hrawi's signature in September 1990. Among the most major changes:

  • The ratio of Christians to Muslims in Parliament was reduced from 6:5 to 1:1.
  • The term length of the Speaker of the House was increased from one to four years. (Article 44 of the constitution).[8]
  • Article 17 of the constitution[8] was amended from "the executive power is vested in the President of the Republic, who exercises with the assistance of his ministers" to "the executive power is vested in the Council of Ministers, who exercise it according to the dispositions of this constitution".
  • Presidential prerogatives were somewhat curtailed. Among the powers lost were:[9][10]
    • Require parliamentary consultations before nominating the Prime Minister.
    • Cannot dismiss or appoint individual ministers at will (requires approval of the Council).
    • Introduce laws in Parliament. Instead, he introduces them to the Cabinet, who then vote to transmit it to Parliament.
    • Nominate or dismiss state employees, which became the Council's duty. In reality, this had little impact in political life as civil servants were generally nominated by ministers and then voted on in cabinet, before being appointed by the President.

Development

Since the election of Michel Aoun as president in 2016 and the formation of a new Government headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, there were two sides, the March 14 alliance which supported the election of Michel Aoun but only if mainly the Lebanese Forces having 7/20 of the governmental seats.[11][12] Michel Aoun and Samir Geagea signed the "Maarab Agreement" and it was considered a historical peace between two rival and old political parties. Michel Aoun ended up not fiving the required seats[13][14][15] to the Lebanese forces but Samir Geagea did not seem to complain until after the "17 October revolution" in Lebanon which Samir Geagea tried his best in trying to impress but to no avail.[16][13][17] Namely sides that were against the election of Michel Aoun as president in the 2016 elections, consisted of traditional, though non-sectarian, parties such as the Kataeb party and the National Liberal Party. Since then, the political scene has been witnessing the emergence of new non-sectarian political groups such as Lihaqqi and Citizens in a State (MMFD), in addition to many civil society groups who were loosely allied during the last parliamentary elections. Although they share a common goal to replace what they consider a failed political model, that was introduced following the end of the civil war leading to the 2020 economic crisis, they are not unified in order to assimilate and conquer the prevailing government. The then-elected government has failed its duties as a government and the Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, attempted to resign while he was in Saudi Arabia in 2017, but it was ruled unconstitutional.[18][19] Later on, during the October protests he resigned as Prime Minister. Moreover, he was later designated in October, 2020 and once again as Prime Minister nevertheless his attempt at creating a government did not take place.[20][21][22]

During the quorum for electing the 2 Secretaries of the Parliament in 2022, it was decided that the secretaries would be attributed to one Maronite Christian and one Druze which was not constitutionally required. The election process of the 2 deputies had large debate particularly by opposition MPs. It was suggested that each MP votes for both preferences in the same ballot. However, it was decided that voting would take place on the basis of one name per ballot.[23] As a result of this Firas Hamdan, an opposition MP, who was one of few candidates for the Druze secretary, withdrew his candidacy in protest of the sectarian electoral procedure.[23]

Presidents of the Second Republic

No. Name

(Birth–Death)

Lived Term of office Political party
Took office Left office
1 René Moawad - رينيه معوض 1925–1989 5 November 1989 22 November 1989 Independence Movement
— Selim Hoss - سليم الحص 1929–2024 22 November 1989 24 November 1989 Independent
2 Elias Hrawi - إلياس الهراوي 1926–2006 24 November 1989 24 November 1998 Independent
3 Émile Lahoud - إميل لحود 1936– 24 November 1998 24 November 2007 Independent
Vacant
4 Michel Suleiman - ميشال سليمان 1948– 25 May 2008 25 May 2014 Independent
Vacant
5 Michel Aoun - ميشال عون 1933– 31 October 2016 31 October 2022 Free Patriotic Movement
Vacant

Prime ministers of the Second Republic

Current prime minister, Najib Mikati, of the Azm Movement
No. Name

(Birth–Death)

Lived Term of office Political party
Took office Left office
1 Selim Hoss - سليم الحص 1929– 2 June 1987 24 December 1990 Independent
– Michel Aoun - ميشال عون 1933– 22 September 1988 13 October 1990 Military
2 Omar Karami - عمر كرامي 1934–2015 24 December 1990 16 May 1992 Independent
3 Rachid Solh - رشيد الصلح 1926–2014 16 May 1992 31 October 1992 Independent
4 Rafic Hariri - رفيق الحريري 1944–2005 31 October 1992 4 December 1998 Future Movement
(1) Selim Hoss - سليم الحص 1929– 4 December 1998 26 October 2000 Independent
(4) Rafic Hariri - رفيق الحريري 1944–2005 26 October 2000 26 October 2004 Future Movement
7 Omar Karami - عمر كرامي 1934–2015 26 October 2004 19 April 2005 Arab Liberation Party
8 Najib Mikati - نجيب ميقاتي 1955– 19 April 2005 19 July 2005 Azm Movement
9 Fouad Siniora - فؤاد السنيورة 1943– 19 July 2005 9 November 2009 Future Movement
10 Saad Hariri - سعد الدين الحريري 1970– 9 November 2009 13 June 2011 Future Movement
(8) Najib Mikati - نجيب ميقاتي 1955– 13 June 2011 15 February 2014 Azm Movement
12 Tammam Salam - تمّام سلام 1945– 15 February 2014 18 December 2016 Future Movement
(10) Saad Hariri - سعد الدين الحريري 1970– 18 December 2016 21 January 2020 Future Movement
14 Hassan Diab - حسّان دياب 1959– 21 January 2020 10 September 2021 Independent
(8)(11) Najib Mikati - نجيب ميقاتي 1955– 10 September 2021 Incumbent Azm Movement

References

  1. ^ Norton, Augustus Richard (1991). "Lebanon after Ta'if: Is the Civil War over?". Middle East Journal. 45 (3): 457–473. JSTOR 4328316.
  2. ^ Laura Etheredge (15 January 2011). Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-61530-329-8. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  3. ^ Hudson, Michael C. (1985). "The Breakdown of Democracy in Lebanon". Journal of International Affairs. 38 (2): 277–292. JSTOR 24356914.
  4. ^ Neal, Mark W.; Tansey, Richard (February 2010). "The dynamics of effective corrupt leadership: Lessons from Rafik Hariri's political career in Lebanon". The Leadership Quarterly. 21 (1): 33–49. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2009.10.003.
  5. ^ AbuKhalil, Asad (29 May 2001). "Lebanon One Year After the Israeli Withdrawal". Middle East Research and Information Project. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  6. ^ Salloukh, Bassel F. (September 2006). "The Limits of Electoral Engineering in Divided Societies: Elections in Postwar Lebanon". Canadian Journal of Political Science. 39 (3): 635–655. doi:10.1017/s0008423906060185. JSTOR 25165996. S2CID 154975167.
  7. ^ a b Salamey, Imad (2009). "Failing Consociationalism in Lebanon and Integrative Options". International Journal of Peace Studies. 14 (2): 83–105. hdl:10725/2164. JSTOR 41852994.
  8. ^ a b "THE LEBANESE CONSTITUTION Promulgated on May 23, 1926" (PDF). Lp.gov.lb. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
  9. ^ "The Taif Agreement : This agreement, which ended the civil war in Lebanon, was negotiated in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia, in September 1989 and approved by the Lebanese parliament on 4 November 1989" (PDF). Un.int. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
  10. ^ Schiff, Frederick (Spring 1989). "The Lebanese Prince: The Aftermath of the Continuing Civil War". Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. 12 (3). ProQuest 1311901691.
  11. ^ "[PHOTOS] LBCI obtains full copy of Maarab agreement". LBCI Lebanon. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  12. ^ "Adwan on Maarab Understanding Says LF 'Kept its Word', FPM Should Do Same". Naharnet. August 9, 2018. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  13. ^ a b "Geagea calls on Aoun to save Maarab agreement". Dailystar.com.lb. Archived from the original on 2019-07-14. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  14. ^ "FPM Says Maarab Agreement a 'Thing of the Past'". Naharnet. July 9, 2018. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  15. ^ "Aoun blamed for the FPM-LF divorce: Is the Maarab agreement dead? – Ya Libnan". Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  16. ^ "Maarab agreement has not collapsed: Geagea". Dailystar.com.lb. Archived from the original on 2021-11-24. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  17. ^ "Geagea to Aoun: This is your covenant; do not allow anyone to ruin it". MTV Lebanon. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  18. ^ Narayan, Chandrika. "Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigns". CNN. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  19. ^ "Lebanon's prime minister just resigned 'over plot to target his life'". The Independent. 4 November 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  20. ^ Chehayeb, Kareem. "Lebanon's former PM Saad Hariri suspends political career". Aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  21. ^ Perry, Tom; Bassam, Laila (2022-01-24). "Lebanon's Hariri steps away from politics, upending election landscape". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  22. ^ "Saad Hariri, Lebanon's reluctant son". France 24. 2022-01-24. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  23. ^ a b "Follow our live coverage of the new Parliament's first session". L'Orient Today. 2022-05-31. Retrieved 2022-06-13.

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