And they\u2019ve been saying a lot of things, haven\u2019t they? It\u2019s mildly entertaining to trace the various opinion pieces that have trailed these presidential deliberations over the past few months. We can start at the end of 2013, when some were warning<\/a> about plans to extend President Suleiman\u2019s term, building on that assumption, and lambasting the president<\/a> for even considering what had been projected onto him. That\u2019s all water under the bridge behind the selfie now<\/a>.
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(Photo via Blog Baladi<\/a>)
As early as November, before a new government had even been formed, most of the political maneuvering we were to witness in the coming months was pretty much already foreseen<\/a>, though Samir Geagea\u2019s \u201csigns of having presidential ambitions\u201d were not made explicit by then, and would remain ambiguous for a few more months<\/a>.
The particularly Christian dimension<\/a> of the process was analyzed from the super-telescopic<\/a> and regional<\/a> level, to the nano-political scale<\/a> of small differences. Even the Vatican had a say<\/a>. And now that we\u2019ve been officially thrown into the wilderness of what the Lebanese call \u201ca presidential void,\u201d<\/a> the gnashing of teeth over the \u2018Christian role\u2019 has already begun<\/a>.
![](\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/33610-1.png\")
(Screenshot via Youtube<\/a>)
Over the last few months, we also watched as commentators had pre-prom jitters about a potential Aoun-Hariri rapprochement<\/a>. \u2018Will they?\u2019<\/a> \u2018Won\u2019t they?\u2019<\/a> The idea behind these meetings, we were told, was to help secure Michel Aoun\u2019s candidacy<\/a> with the help of the Future Movement, but the prospects of this actually happening seemed slim<\/a>. Then things really got interesting <\/a>when Samir Geagea officially declared his candidacy. As Michael Young wrote at the time<\/a>, this announcement created a whole new dynamic: \u201cThe irony is that Geagea\u2019s candidacy may benefit Aoun. By turning the election into a choice between the Lebanese Forces leader and Aoun, Geagea may force those on the fence to take sides.\u201d
And take sides<\/a> we certainly did<\/a>. Though, not quite that way. The first session has come<\/a> and gone<\/a>, and there are now whispers that Geagea is willing to step aside<\/a>, but it is still worth remembering just how divisive his candidacy was within the political establishment<\/a>, and among ordinary citizens as well<\/a>. Many tried to argue that Geagea\u2019s \u201cfiles\u201d should not be singled out<\/a>, given the fact that most of our current crop of politicians<\/a> took part in the civil war in one way or another. And yet, the repeated<\/a> calls of Geagea\u2019s supporters to stop \u201cdigging up graves\u201d<\/a> — when there are actual mass graves yet to be dug<\/a> — were in bad taste, to say the least. Besides, it was always a mistake to believe that a top-down general amnesty law<\/a> would mean real and lasting post-war reconciliation.
So here we are: Samir Geagea is still a \u201cprovocative name\u201d and Michel Aoun is still everyone\u2019s favorite punching-bag<\/a> (over<\/a>, and over<\/a>, and over again<\/a>). And while some are still waiting for regional changes<\/a>, others are looking for alternative<\/a> \u201cexemplary candidates who are not traditional Maronite leaders.\u201d Clovis Maksoud, among others, argues<\/a> that the only way out of the impasse is to choose a \u201cconsensus Maronite leader [from] outside the two blocs, such as civil society activist Ziad Baroud or Riad Salameh, the governor of Lebanon’s central bank.\u201d Maksoud goes on to note that, \u201cwhile a major transformation [of the system] is not presently feasible, a new, independent, secularly oriented Maronite president could begin the transformation of Lebanon into a country of citizens.\u201d
![](\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/33610-2.png\")
(Image via Now Media<\/a>)
These \u2018non-traditional\u2019 Maronite names have been in the air for a while, and how realistic they are as options depends on how you define the presidency. From the very beginning, the main criterion that everyone agreed on was the vaguely-defined quality of al-ra2ees al-qawi<\/i> — the \u201cstrong leader,\u201d or \u201cthe president who is strong.\u201d But that\u2019s where the agreement ended, as multiple interpretations<\/a> of \u2018strength\u2019 were used to justify swelling or shrinking the pool of potential candidates. So the strong leader might be the one who can mediate between extremes, or the one everyone can agree on, or the one who is most representative of the Maronites, or the one who can best defend the constitution, etc. However, not once was this definition of strength sophisticated enough to encompass women, which brings me to the ultimate point: why has there been no discussion whatsoever of al-ra2eesa al-qaweeya<\/i>?
Certainly, some have paid lip-service<\/a> to the need for \u201cthe empowerment of women to further participate in policy and decision-making,\u201d a noble desire that could have been fortified by an actual interest in having a woman take up the presidency. In fact, the same political commentator later claimed that<\/a> \u201cno woman candidate is surfacing,\u201d when two had already put forward their names by that point.
One of those names was Tracy Chamoun, who announced her candidacy during the first electoral session<\/a>, though later explained to reporters outside that it was only symbolic and meant to protest Samir Geagea\u2019s candidacy<\/a>.
The other name was Nadine Moussa<\/a>, who first announced her candidacy to the wider public<\/a> on the political satire show, ChiNN, seeking to reach out to those who are critical of and disaffected by the system. Moussa\u2019s candidacy was a first for Lebanese women<\/a>, and during her modest campaign, she called for “a ‘new social contract,’ with women holding half of all parliamentary and governmental posts.\u201d While these activities and declarations<\/a> made Moussa\u2019s candidacy more official than Chamoun\u2019s, the fact that she enjoyed neither established political support nor a popular base outside of the activist world, makes it difficult to disagree with those who thought she had \u201cno chance.\u201d<\/a>
One name that could have had a chance but that was never put forward, however, was quite prominent throughout this period, and so should have been more obvious. That name is Sethrida Tawk Geagea.
![](\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/33610-3.png\")
(Image via Al Monitor<\/a>)
Let us consider the Sethrida scenario, for a moment. She is almost always associated with her husband, Samir Geagea, but unlike her husband, she is an actual parliamentarian, elected twice<\/a>. Indeed, her husband has never held any official position in the state. Furthermore, unlike her husband, Sethrida Geagea has had two decades of post-war political experience, especially during the most difficult time for the Lebanese Forces, under Syrian tutelage. While her husband was in prison, Sethrida Geagea became the de facto leader of the LF, and had to deal with both pressures from a state that was hostile to her organization, and internal conflicts over who should run its affairs<\/a>. While her entry into politics was certainly made possible by their relationship <\/a>, and certainly qualifies as a form of pseudo-patrimonialism, no one can deny that Sethrida Geagea has proven herself as a capable and independent politician, irrespective of what one thinks of her political beliefs or party.
So why wasn\u2019t her name put forward? At the height of his campaign, Samir Geagea claimed<\/a> that he would step aside and support any candidate who would adopt his political platform<\/a>. Hours before the end of President Suleiman\u2019s term, he called for one last attempt<\/a> to elect a \u201cLebanese-made president\u201d to avoid the vacuum. Did his own wife\u2019s name never cross his mind in the interim?
While there are many possible explanations for this lapse (she may not even have wanted to run for the post), the full answer as to why Sethrida Geagea\u2019s name was never mentioned as a candidate, when the names of men with no political presence whatsoever were presented as viable options, goes beyond the Lebanese Force\u2019s internal calculations and procedures<\/a>. The problem is social.
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And don\u2019t think Sethrida hasn\u2019t noticed<\/a>: \u201cDon\u2019t they see anything but my appearance? Don\u2019t they see the long, political struggle I\u2019ve undertaken?\u201d
The answer, so far, has been a resounding: no. Unfortunately, we don\u2019t see much <\/a> past her looks<\/a>. At best, we see her as an extension of her husband<\/a>. When MP Geagea attended the first session dressed in a red outfit<\/a>, an on-the-scene reporter told her she looked stunning, “just like a First Lady.” Not like a president, though.
You don\u2019t have to be a fan of Sethrida Geagea, or her political party, or even the March 14 camp they\u2019re part of, to consider the very real possibility that this whole process could have played out very differently had she been a candidate, and not Samir Geagea. At the very least, it would have forced the hand of their March 8 opponents to play another card, as Sethrida was neither a warlord, nor accused and convicted of post-war crimes. In many ways, she fit all explicit and implicit criteria of the \u201cstrong president,\u201d except two. Firstly, she probably would have still been unacceptable to Hezbollah, as they want a president who is whole-heartedly pro-Resistance. She\u2019s also not a man, and that is, unfortunately, an assumed prerequisite of leadership many of us still believe in.
And so, if our democracy must be representational, and if the system of representation must be confessional, and if, within that sectarian equation, the president has to be a Maronite Christian, and if, among the Maronites, we must deal with these three or four political parties, let us at least draw a thick red line at gender. If we can\u2019t have everything, let\u2019s at least get one thing right.
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<\/figure><\/figure> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"So it\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":443581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_preview_accessed":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"media-embed-type":[],"class_list":["post-33610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"authorship":[21],"yoast_head":"\n