Michel Moawad

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Michel Moawad
ميشال معوض
MICHEL MOAWAD - PHOTO (cropped).jpg
Michel Moawad in 2021
Member of the Lebanese Parliament
Assumed office
May 6, 2018
ConstituencyZgharta (2018)
Personal details
Born (1972-06-04) 4 June 1972 (age 51)
Beirut, Lebanon
Political partyIndependence Movement
SpouseMarielle Kosremelli
Children4
Parent(s)René Moawad
Nayla Moawad

Michel Moawad (Arabic: ميشال معوض; born 4 June 1972) is a member of the Lebanese Parliament representing the Zgharta District. In May 2022, Moawad was elected for a second term to Parliament, following a first spell that lasted for 2 years - from 2018 until 2020 - when he resigned in protest of the August 4 explosion. Since his election to Parliament, he has been also elected as a member of the parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee, where he played a pivotal role in advocating reforms, fighting corruption, and exposing the illegal partisan employment in the public sector. Moreover, Moawad is a sovereigntist, reformist, and freedom-advocate whose civic involvement started in 1997, and is currently the executive director of the René Moawad Foundation.[1]

Political Involvement

Independence Movement

Michel Moawad is the founder and president of the Independence Movement, a sovereigntist, reformist, secular and socio-liberal political party, launched in 2005. The Independence Movement began as a grassroots initiative as part of the Cedar Revolution, before it evolved into a structured political organization. In addition, Moawad was a member of the March 14 Coalition Leadership, as well as an active participant of the 2005 Cedar Revolution and key precursor movements -including the Qornet Shehwan Gathering and Bristol Gathering-.[2]

2005 Cedar Revolution and Key Precursor Movements

Moawad was actively involved in several key movements that paved the way towards the 2005 Cedar Revolution. He was a founding member of the Qornet Shehwan Gathering, a political opposition grouping formed in 2001, which was the primary opposition force to the Syrian hegemony in Lebanon. The group gathered key Christian figures, including Lebanese Minister Pierre Amine Gemayel, and Members of Parliament Gebran Tueni and Antoine Ghanem, all of which were assassinated for their political opposition. Moreover, Moawad was a founding member of the Bristol Gathering in 2005, the largest multi-sectarian opposition bloc in the history of Lebanon at the time, formed following the illegal extension of former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud's term imposed by the Syrian government. Following the 2005 Cedar Revolution, Moawad joined the leadership of the March 14 alliance, and participated in the Doha Conference of May 2008 that came as a result of May 7 events that saw Hezbollah militarily invade the capital and parts of the Chouf area. The conference produced the Doha Accord to end an 18-month-long political crisis.[3]

In parliament

Moawad ran as a candidate for the 2009 Lebanese parliamentary elections with the Lebanese Forces and other 14 March political parties attaining 47% of the vote in the Zgharta–Zawye district, losing against the Marada Movement led by Suleiman Frangieh. In 2013, the Parliamentary Elections were postponed to 2018, and Moawad underwent various attempts to politically ally with several parties in the hope to limit his opponents growing public influence,[4] which were finally represented in the 2018 Elections where Moawad came in 2nd in Zgharta District, and his party, the Independence Movement, cemented itself as the 4th largest power in the North 3 electoral sector, allied with The Free Patriotic Movement.[5] As an MP, Moawad was a member of the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee, and played a pivotal role in advocating reforms, fighting corruption, and exposing the illegal partisan employment in the public sector.[6]

Moawad was part of FPM bloc until late 2019 when he was seen as an independent MP when he named Nawaf Salam unlike the rest of the bloc that named Hassan Diab.

Moawad resigned from parliament in protest following the August 4, 2020, Beirut Explosion, and is today a leading figure and founding member of the Lebanese Opposition Front.[7]

In 2022, the Independence Movement allied with the Kataeb Party, the son of the ex-minister and ex-parliament member Boutros Harb and other Anti-Hezbollah independents to form a list called 'Shamal Al Mouwajaha' to bring down Gebran Bassil's and Sleiman Frengieh presence in the North III electoral districts. [8][9]

Candidacy for presidency (2022)

In 2022, Moawad declared his candidacy for the Lebanese presidential elections to succeed President Michel Aoun, whose 6-year term was to end on 31 October 2022. Moawad is currently the opposition front candidate, he received 36 votes in the first session[10] and 42 votes in the third session.[11]

Civic engagement

Moawad's civic involvement, which started in 1997 with his struggle to pressure the government to organize municipal elections for the first time since 1964 through the "Baladi, Baldati, Baladiyati" Campaign, further includes supporting employment and entrepreneurship via initiatives such as FORAS: Fostering Entrepreneurship and Employment in North Lebanon and the Business Incubation Association in Tripoli (BIAT), as well as several social initiatives to protect and ameliorate the conditions of underprivileged populations in Lebanon.[12]

Moawad is a founding member and current executive director of the René Moawad Foundation (RMF). RMF is an NGO with programs across Lebanon in partnership with international donors including USAID, the UN and all its organs, the EU, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the German GIZ and many others.[13] Its mission is to promote social, economic, and rural development in Lebanon and contribute to building a responsible civil society that promotes democratic values, social justice, pluralism, and moderation. It works in five sectors: Education and Human Development, Health and Social Care, Economic Development, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Local Authorities and Decentralization. RMF's budget for 2020 was $19.571M, and its programs reached 530,630 beneficiaries. Furthermore, RMF has a US based sister NGO, which Moawad participated in founding.[14][15]

Moawad is also a board member of the Maronite Foundation in the World.[16]

Family background and education

Michel Moawad was born on June 4, 1972, in Lebanon. He is the son of the former President of the Lebanese Republic, President René Moawad.[17][18]

Moawad attended school at the College Notre-Dame de Jamhour, graduating in 1990 and obtaining the French Baccalaureate with honors. He then attended the Ecole Sainte-Genevieve Preparatory School for "Grandes Ecoles" in Versailles and graduated from the Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP). He also obtained a master's degree in Public Law from the Sorbonne University in Paris.[19]

Moawad is married to Marielle Kosremelli and is a father of 4.[20]

References

  1. ^ "Our Story – René Moawad Foundation". Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  2. ^ "Michel Moawad Autobiography". Michel Moawad. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  3. ^ "Son of slain president stresses need for neutrality". The Daily Star Lebanon. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  4. ^ بطرس, باسكال. "4 لوائح في الشمال الثالثة: معركة جبران باسيل". almodon (in Arabic). Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  5. ^ "Michel Moawad declares alliance with FPM in North Lebanon's third electoral district". LBCI Lebanon. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  6. ^ AsiaNews.it. "The 5 key issues of the Lebanon's May elections". www.asianews.it. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  7. ^ "Mouawad: What is required is the resignation of a system of authority run by Hezbollah". LBCI Lebanon. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  8. ^ "Michel Moawad leads North Lebanon III list 'Shamal Al Mouwajaha,' unveiled Saturday". L'Orient Today. April 2, 2022. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  9. ^ "Christian parties demand restoration of Lebanon's sovereignty from Hezbollah". Arab News. April 28, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  10. ^ "First Presidential Election Session in Lebanon: 63 Blank Papers, 36 Votes for Michel Moawad".
  11. ^ https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-720115[bare URL]
  12. ^ "Rene Moawad Foundation". Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  13. ^ "Mouawad meets EU ambassador". ui.webname. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  14. ^ "Business Incubation Association in Tripoli". Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  15. ^ "René Moawad Foundation". Archived from the original on April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  16. ^ "Maronite Foundation - About us". maronitefoundation.org. Retrieved May 7, 2022.
  17. ^ "The rule of the five families". Caza Zgharta. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  18. ^ El-Husseini, Rola (2012). Pax Syriana: Elite Politics in Postwar Lebanon. Syracuse University Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-8156-3304-4.
  19. ^ "LinkedIn Profile". LinkedIn. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  20. ^ kalam Ennas – Michel Moawad – تقرير ميشال معوّض, retrieved April 9, 2022

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by
 President of the Independence Movement
2005–present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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