Émile Lahoud

General Émile Jamil Lahoud (born 12 January 1936) is a former President of Lebanon. Lahoud is a Maronite-Catholic, as is required for the Lebanese presidency. Under Lebanon's unwritten constitutional agreement, the National Pact, the presidency is earmarked for a Maronite Catholic, the Parliament of Lebanon speaker's post for a Shia Muslim and the prime minister's post is reserved for a Sunni Muslim. Before being elected in 1998, he was Chief of Staff in the Army.

Political life

Lahoud served as a colonel for a number of years before he crossed over into the Muslim area which was backed by the Syrian army. A Maronite military officer was needed to assume the position of army commander for the West Beirut-based Lebanese government endorsed by the 1989 Taif Agreement. Lahoud was offered the position.

He served in various posts in the military, including commander-in-chief of the army from 1989 to 1998, and then ran for the presidency in 1998, after having the constitution amended to allow the army commander-in-chief to run for office within three years of holding that post.

Under the Lebanese constitution, the President's term was limited to one six-year term. However in 2004, the parliament voted to extend his term for an additional three years to 2007 (his predecessor, Elias Hrawi, did the same).

Family life

He is the son of General Jamil Lahoud, a leader in the independence movement. His mother is of Armenian descent from the Armenian village of Kasab. He is married to Andrée Amadouni and they have three children: Emile, Ralf and Karine who was married to Lebanon's defense minister Elias Murr.

Honours and awards

• The Medal of December 31, 1961
• Lebanese Order of Merit (3rd Grade), 1971
• Medal of Merit and Honor (High Ranking Officer), Haiti, 1974
• Navy Medal (Excellent Grade), 1974
• Tudor Vladimirescu Medal (4th degree), Romania, 1974
• Lebanese Order of Merit (2nd Grade), 1983
• Lebanese Order of Merit (1st Grade), 1988
• War Medal, 1991 War Medal, 1992
• National Order of the Cedar (Grand Cordon), 1993
• Medal of the "Dawn of the South", 1993
• The Medal of National Unity, 1993
• Military Valour Medal, 1994
• State Security Medal, 1994
• Order of Merit (Senior Officer Rank), Italy, 1997
• Great Cross of Argentina, 1998
• Lebanese Order of Merit (Extraordinary Grade), 1998.
• Order of Al-Hussein Ibn Ali, Jordan, 1999
• Great Collar of Independence, Qatar, 1999
• Order of Saint Misrope Mashtos, Armenia, 2000
• King Abdul-Aziz Collar, Saudi Arabia, 2000
• Great Collar of The Union, United Arab Emirates, 2000
• Great Collar of Mubarak, Kuwait, 2000
• Great Collar of the Order of the Nile, Egypt, 2000
• Great Collar of Independence, Qatar, 2000
• Great Collar of the Khalifite Order, Bahrein, 2000
• Order of the White Double Cross (1st Class), Slovakia, 2001
• Collar of the Order of the Star of Romania, 1999, 2001
• Great Cross of the Legion of Honour, France, 2001
• The Al Muhammadi Decoration (Extraordinary Grade), Morocco, 2001
• Order of November the 7th (highest Grade), Tunisia, 2001
• Great Cross of the Order of Grimaldi , Monaco, 2001
• Great Cross of the Order of the Redeemer , Greece, 2001
• National Order of Oumaya - Grand Cordon, Syria, 2002
• The First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, Ukraine, 2002.
• Grand Collar of the Order of Makarios III, Cyprus, 2002
• National Order of Merit "Al-Athir", Algeria, 2002
• Order of the Republic, Yemen, 2002
• Military Order of Oman - first category, Oman, 2002
• Order of Stara Planina, Bulgaria, 2003
• Gold Olympic Order, 2003
• Order of the Southern Cross, Brazil, 2004
• Big Cross of the Ipiranga Order, Sao Paolo – Brazil, 2004
• Order of Merit – Grand Cross with Chain, Hungary, 2004
• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, 2004.
• Order of the Federation - 1st Class (Cordon), Arab Military Sports Federation, 2005.
• Knight Grand Cross of Merit with Gold Plate of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, 2005.

References

• Jean-Marc Aractingi,La Politique à mes trousses( Politics at my heels), Editions l'Harmattan, Paris, 2006, Lebanon Chapter (ISBN 978-2-296-00469-6).