Michel Moawad
Michel Moawad () is a Lebanese politician who resigned from Parliament in protest following the August 4, 2020, Beirut Explosion. He is the president of the Independence Movement, and is today a leading figure and founding member of the Lebanese Opposition Front. 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. 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-. 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. Parliamentary Record and Resignation. Moawad ran as a candidate for the 2009 Lebanese parliamentary elections attaining 47% of the vote in the Zgharta–Zawye district. The Parliamentary Elections were postponed 3 times, and Moawad underwent various attempts to politically encircle him in the hope to limit his growing public influence, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Moawad is also a board member of the Maronite  Foundation in the World. 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. 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. Moawad is married to Marielle Kosremelli  and is a father of 4.