Suleiman Frangieh

His grandfather, Suleiman Ghnatios Frangieh, was district governor of Ehden (1904–1908).

Kabalan Frangieh was district governor of Ehden (1908–1913) and a member of the Parliament (1929–1932).

Suleiman Kabalan Frangieh (last name also spelled Frangié, Franjieh, or Franjiyeh; سليمان فرنجية; 15 June 1910 – 23 July 1992) was a Pro-Syrian Lebanese politician who was President of Lebanon from 1970 to 1976.

Suleiman Frangieh was a scion of one of the leading Maronite families of Zgharta, near Tripoli; the family's name comes from the Greek Φρὰγκοι (pron. "Frangi"), after the Franks.

Frangieh was born in Zgharta on 15 June 1910.

He was the second son of a politician, Kabalan Suleiman Frangieh.

His mother was Lamia Raffoul.

Suleiman Frangieh's brother Hamid served as foreign minister under the French mandate in 1939.

Though the Frangieh family were landowners in Ottoman times, they might have acquired most of their wealth through trade and business activities.

Suleiman Kabalan Frangieh received education at Antoura, near Beirut.

He was also educated in Tripoli and Beirut.

Suleiman Frangieh dealt with the export-import business in Beirut for a time before his political career.

In 1957, he was accused in the machine-gun slaying of more than 20 members of a competing clan, the Douaihys, in a church not far from Zgharta.

More specifically, he was believed to be responsible for killing around 700 people, 20 of them Christians shot to death during a requiem mass in the north Lebanese town of Miziara.

Therefore, he had to take refuge in the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, where he met with two Syrian army officers, Hafez and Rifaat Assad who would be his friends.

In 1958, he benefited from the amnesty and returned to Lebanon.

Posing as a consensus candidate, Frangieh drew support from both the right and the left and from all religious factions; his election was a backlash to the administrations of Presidents of Fuad Chehab (1958–1964) and Charles Helou (1964–1970) and the "Deuxième Bureau" (المكتب الثاني) run by the preceding two administrations of Chehab and Helou, as the opposing candidate Elias Sarkis who was head of the Banque du Liban (Central Bank of Lebanon) was widely seen as a continuation of the earlier Chehabi regime.

There were three rounds of elections that year:

Round 1 – 99 Deputies, 5 candidates – no majority

Round 2 – 99 Deputies, 2 candidates – 50 votes each (1 fake vote found), round was negated.

Round 3 – 99 Deputies, 2 candidates, Kamal Jumblatt assigns one of his deputies to vote for Frangieh.

Suleiman Frangieh becomes President legally.

The events listed above as per the testimony of the late Kamal Joumblatt of his role in the vote.

Sabri Hamadeh, then Speaker of Parliament, had refused to announce the election of a President on a 1-vote difference.

As Hamadeh exited parliament Michel Sassine, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, stepped up and exercised his powers of Deputy to announce Frangieh President.

In 1960, Frangieh was elected to his elder brother Hamid's old seat in the Lebanese Parliament.

He also became the head of his clan due to Hamid's illness.

Frangieh was reelected to the Parliament in 1964 and 1968.

Until 1970, he held the following ministerial posts: minister of post, telegraph and telephone (1960–1961), minister of agriculture (1961), minister of interior (1968), minister of justice (1968–1969) and minister of economy (1968–1970).

In the closest and possibly most controversial presidential election in Lebanese history, the National Assembly elected Frangieh to the Presidency of the Republic on 23 September 1970.

He owed his upset victory over Elias Sarkis, the official candidate of the Chehabi regime to a last minute change of mind by Kamal Jumblatt, whose supporters in the Parliament switched their votes to Frangieh.

Civil war in Lebanon began on 13 April 1975.

Frangieh's term lasted until 22 September 1976.

Frangie's term ended in 1976 when Elias Sarkis was elected as president.

However, Sarkis could move to office four months after his election on 23 September 1976, since Frangieh objected at first to leave office.

Frangieh as the Lebanese President declared the Constitutional Document on 14 February 1976 that was the first serious initiative to end the conflict and reach a consensus.

The document empowered prime minister and suggested a "parity between Christians and Muslims in Parliament", reducing the power of Maronites.

Although it was supported by major politicians and religious leaders, it could not achieve its objectives.

Then Frangieh invited Syrian troops into Lebanon in May 1976 in the early stages of the Lebanese Civil War.

He had full support of the Lebanese Christians in this regard, since they thought that Syria would be able to force a cease-fire and protect Christians.