Former Lebanese Ambassador to Jordan Tracey Chamoun announced on Monday her candidacy in Lebanon’s two-month presidential election as a rare candidate for a woman in a country where political calculations determine the country’s president.
Incumbent Michel Aoun’s term expires at the end of October, and it is likely that it will not take place on time due to the depth of the political crisis and divisions in the country, as well as the inability of traditional political forces to agree on the name of the next president. These forces have not yet been able to form a new government after the parliamentary elections held in May last year.
The nomination of Shamun for this position is a rare step for a woman. In 2014, lawyer Nadine Moussa, little known in the political sphere, announced her candidacy in the presidential elections. In 2004, former MP Nailah Moawad announced her intention to run for the position prior to the dramatic events in the country at the time, during which President Emile Lahoud was renewed at the time.
“I have come to dedicate myself to serving you, serving Lebanon, to announce to my people and their representatives who are the representatives of the nation that I will run for the upcoming Lebanese presidential election,” Chamoun said at a press conference. She added that her candidacy is based on “a new vision of a republic capable of providing solutions to the economic, social and political problems that burden the nation.”
The first three presidential posts in Lebanon are distributed along sectarian lines: the presidency of the republic for the Maronites, the chairmanship of the parliament for the Shiites, and the chairmanship of the council of ministers for the Sunnis. The President of the Republic does not have broad powers.
Aoun was elected in October 2016 as President of the Republic after two and a half years of a vacant post with the support of Hezbollah, a powerful political and military force in the country, as part of a political settlement between the most prominent sect leaders. The situation in Lebanon, which has plunged into an unprecedented economic collapse for three years, will worsen even more if a vacancy in the presidency arises again, as this will further paralyze the already exhausted official institutions.
Chamoun served as Lebanese Ambassador to Jordan for three years before resigning in August 2020 following the horrific Beirut port explosion, which the political class accused of negligence and negligence. Chamoun is the daughter of Danny Chamoun, the youngest son of former President Camille Chamoun (1952-1958). Her father, along with his wife and two children, was killed in his home in 1990. The Lebanese Armed Forces party, led by Sameer Jagea, was blamed for their murder and he spent 11 years in prison, becoming the only military leader to be imprisoned and tried on files. related to the war. Geagea, who has said he is a “natural candidate” for the presidency, sees his trial as political. Simeon is Danny’s daughter with Australian actress Patti Morgan. She has British citizenship.
