May Al-Rihani announced her candidacy for Lebanon presidential elections

May Al-Rihani announced he candidacy for the upcoming Lebanese presidential election on Wednesday:

“I announce my candidacy for the presidential elections after the strong support of political leaders and activists in Lebanon and the diaspora,” noting that “this initiative comes from my deep belief in this country.”

Save the entity and restore the state

An independent reformist sovereign who pledged to rescue Lebanon from its crisis

May Rihani returned to Lebanon, to run for the presidential elections, under the title “Save the entity and restore the state.”

Al-Rihani arrived in Beirut on Wednesday and announced her candidacy a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Al-Bustan Hotel in Beit Meri, Where she launched her presidential campaign and revealed her vision and program to save the country

It is worth noting that Rihani had contacted several politicians in Lebanon before she decided to run for office , so her program covers key issues , such as the economy, sovereignty, politics, impartiality and women.. She strongly believes in reviving the Lebanese institutions.

According to political observers Mrs. Al-Rihani has several advantages that distinguish her from the rest of the presidential candidates

First and foremost she has an impeccable image , never been part of the corrupt Lebanese ruling elite. Second , the confidence of the expatriate community in her ,their support and encouragement will encourage them to invest in the country and this is exactly what Lebanon needs right now to ge out of its current financial crisis. Of course the expatriates are hoping this time they will not lose their money again like they did before

About Rihani

Rihani is an expert on girls’ education and women’s empowerment. She worked in over 40 countries and visited over 70 countries to contribute to and advance these two causes. She was a Senior Vice president of three leading US organizations that worked in International Development: FHI360, the Academy of Educational Development (AED), and Creative Associates International. She served as the Co-Chair of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) between 2008 and 2010. She is a Lebanese writer and poet in both Arabic and English. She is also a women’s rights activist. She assumed a position as director of the Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values and Peace at the University of Maryland, College Park, in early 2016.

Rihani has published nine books and co-edited two.

In her English language books, she focuses on “addressing girl’s education, woman’s empowerment and global human development”. Two of her major books are Learning for the 21st Century: Girl’s Education in the Middle East and North Africa, which was translated by UNICEF to French, Arabic and Persian; and  Keeping the Promise: Five benefits of Girls Secondary Education. In addition, she is the author of Cultures Without Borders: From Beirut to Washington, D.C., a memoir which focuses on her work and life.

The three Arabic books that she wrote are mainly poetry that discuss “love, Lebanon and global common ground”.

The first to announce his candidacy was Ziad Hayek , the former Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Privatization. He announced his candidacy for the presidency during a press conference on August 27 at the “Le Royal” Hotel – Dbayeh, in the presence of economic, human rights and media experts.

The second to announce he candidacy was Tracy Chamoun, a granddaughter of the late diplomat and Lebanese President Camille Chamoun.

She announced on August 30 her bid for the cash-strapped country’s upcoming presidential elections on a platform critical of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The term of outgoing president Michel Aoun will soon expire , October 31, to be exact , and for this reason the talk of the town in Lebanon is who will be the next president

Political blocs and influential figures in Lebanon started to publicly announce their own specifications for the next president , along with the list of their preferred candidates.

The only problem is that the president of Lebanon may not be decided by the Lebanese as history has shown. Many regional and world powers have a lot of influence on who should be Lebanon’s president .

Lebanon is divided between those who support Hezbollah and its arms and those who want an end to Hezbollah’s domination .

Hezbollah was created by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in 1982 as part of its Quds foreign force. Iran has been funding , training and arming Hezbollah ever since and in return, Hezbollah has been acting as Iran’s proxy in destabilizing the Middle East , from acting as Irani’s occupier of Lebanon, to helping the Syrian dictator in his war against the opposition and supporting the Iran backed militia group in Iraq and backing the Iran backed Houthi rebels in Yemen , to drowning the Arab Gulf countries with smuggled drugs that are made in Syria near the Lebanese borders

The creation of Hezbollah as a resistance movement against Israel was initially welcomed by Israel in 1982 , because Hezbollah ended up replacing the Palestinian resistance groups alongside the border who were giving Israel a hard time .

At the end of the 1975, 1990 civil war a settlement was reached in Taif Saudi Arabia , which is referred to as the Taif Accord . The accord stipulated that all militias should hand over their arms and ammunition to the Lebanese army , but Hezbollah refused to hand over its arms claiming that it needs them for resistance against the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. 

Israel withdrew from Lebanon over 22 years ago in May 2000 but Hezbollah never handed its arms to the Lebanese army . It claims that it wants to liberate the Shebaa farms which are Syrian and part of the occupied Golan heights . In the 1967 war with Syria Israel occupied the Golan heights.

Instead of resisting against Israel Hezbollah has pointed its guns internally against the Lebanese people and has been using its arms to protect the corrupt ruling class . Hezbollah claims to have over 100, 000 fighters almost double the size of the Lebanese army and over 150, 000 rockets .

In Lebanon Hezbollah now controls all the branches of government , the presidency (Thru its ally president Michel Aoun) , the parliament thru its ally speaker Nabih Berri) and has been the force behind the inability of PM designate Najib Mikati in forming a cabinet ever since he was designated as PM

The other side in Lebanon is not as united as Hezbollah and its allies, while some want to get rid completely of Hezbollah, others want to coexist at various degrees and devised their own terms for coexistence .

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