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The Presidential Crisis in Lebanon
| Article
# : |
13840 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1988 |
2,677 Words |
| Author
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As''ad Abukhalil
As'ad Abukhalil is a fellow of the Arab Studies Center at
Georgetown University in Washington, D.C |
After 12 years of war, the Lebanese people looked to their elections as hope for the foundation of national peace. Instead, their hopes have been dashed and national unity seems further away after the election than before.
On September 23, 1988, the mandate of Amin Gemayel expired, and the Lebanese parliament could not agree on a successor. A new crisis ensued, which threatens to split the country officially in two. If the crisis is not resolved, and if a new president is not elected, the de facto partition of the country would become a de jure partition, and the geographic lines of demarcation between the confessional communities would become boundaries between the communal cantons.
The selection of a president in Lebanon has never been a purely domestic affair; outside powers have always had a say in Lebanese presidential politics, thus affecting the foreign policy orientations of the small nation. Indeed, the independence of Lebanon came about in 1943 as a result of British-French rivalry. Lebanon's first president after independence, Bisharah al-Khuri, was favored by the British and the British-supported Arab governments who sought to diminish French interests in the Levant. France was seen as a protector of Christian influence in the Arab East, while Britain was promising to champion the cause of Arab nationalism as espoused by the conservative pro-British Arab governments at the time.
Lebanon's second president, Camille Chamoun, was a strong ally of the United States and was encouraged to take a strong stance against the Nasserist tide in the Arab world. In For Lust of Knowing: Memories of an Intelligence officer, former CIA official
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