Five presidents carried out their terms and succeeded each other in relative calm: Bechara el Khouri (1943-1952; The National Assembly amended the Constitution in 1949 so he could serve another term, but economic strife and massive demonstrations over Khoury’s nepotism and corruption forced him to resign in 1952); Camille Chamoun (1952-1958); Fouad Chehab (1958-1964); and Charles Helou (1964-1970). The transition to Suleiman Frangieh in 1970 was the last smooth one. It’s been a chronic tale of guns and poses since.
1976: Elias Sarkis
By March 1976, Lebanon’s civil war had been raging for a year. Right-wing Christians battled left-wing Muslims and Palestinians. More than 20,000 Lebanese had been killed. The presidency of Suleiman Franjieh was largely impotent. That month, Lebanese Army Brig. Gen. Abdel-Aziz al-Ahdab staged a coup to oust Franjieh, whose term wasn’t to expire until September. The coup failed, but a change in leadership won Syrian support. In April, Syrian tanks crossed the Lebanese border for the first time, sending a signal to the Lebanese National Assembly to amend the Constitution and replace Franjieh’s early.
A day after the Syrian incursion, 90 of the Assembly’s 98 members voted to amend the Constitution in a 20-minute session held at the Versailles-style Esseily Villa, a private residence in Southeastern Beirut. The National Assembly building itself was in a dangerous no-man’s land. On May 8, 1976, while mortar rounds exploded and assault-gun fire raked the Esseily Villa neighborhood, 66 members of the Assembly elected Elias Sarkis president. He was a conservative lawyer and former governor of Lebanon’s Central Bank, a Maronite Christian, and most importantly, Syria’s choice — but not the Muslim-Palestinian alliance’s. Twenty-nine members of the Assembly boycotted the session.
The Syrian invasion began in earnest in June under the guise of a multinational Arab peace force-ostensibly to restore calm. In fact, Syria intervened briefly on the Christians’ side to repel Palestinian gains—and assert what would turn into 29 years of authoritarian Syrian control of Lebanon. Christians would regret supporting Syrian intervention within months. Once its authority was established, the Syrian army turned its guns on Christians.
1982: Bashir and Amin Gemayel
Israel’s invasion of Lebanon was three months old in August 1982. Israel had invaded to oust the Palestine Liberation Organization from south Lebanon and install the candidate it favored in the Lebanese presidency—Bashir Gemayel, the fiery 34-year-old leader of the Christian Phalange militia. He was the only candidate on the ballot. He was elected on Aug. 23, this time with the shadow of Israeli tanks looming over Beirut, and, literally, over the site where the Assembly held its special session.
Again the Assembly’s usual home in Beirut was not safe. The session was moved to the Lebanese military academy barracks at Fayadayeh, an area three miles east of the capital controlled by the Israeli army. Muslim politicians called for a boycott. But enough legislators turned up to give Gemayel the presidency on the second ballot, with 57 votes for and five blank votes on a bare quorum.
Israeli Prime Minister send a letter of congratulations to Gemayel, calling him “my dear friend.” Christian East Beirut celebrated the election while the houses of three legislators who’d taken part in the vote were blown up in predominantly Muslim West Beirut. Meanwhile, PLO guerillas were being escorted out of the country under the protection of a multinational force of American, French and Italian soldiers.
Just 22 days after his election and nine days before taking office, Gemayel was assassinated. His 40-year-old brother, Amin, a member of the Assembly for 10 years, was elected president, again at the military academy but this time with 77 votes.
