Michel Georges Sassine - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Michel Georges Sassine is a prominent Lebanese

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

politician.
He was a member of the Lebanese parliament for twenty-four consecutive years (1968–1992) representing the district of Ashrafieh, Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

. He served several times as Vice-Prime Minister, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, and cabinet Minister. He founded the Ministry of Housing and Cooperatives, and was appointed as Minister of Labor, Tourism and others.Throughout his political career he was renowned for his strong ethics and anti-corruption principles. He took the lead on several historic turning points including the 1970 Presidential election, and the Taif Agreement

Taif Agreement

The Taif Agreement was an agreement reached to provide "the basis for the ending of the civil war and the return to political normalcy in Lebanon." Negotiated in Taif, Saudi Arabia, it was designed to end the decades-long Lebanese civil war, politically accommodate the demographic...

in 1990.

Personal life

Sassine was born to a prominent Greek Orthodox family in Ashrafieh to parents Georges Sassine and Laurice Bustros. He lost his father in his teenage years and found himself in the responsibility of four other siblings including new-born twins. Sassine went to lead his family into politics, and together with his brothers Pierre and Joseph dedicated the family’s efforts to public service.

1968 Parliamentary elections

Michel Sassine was first elected to the Lebanese Parliament in 1968 running for the Greek Orthodox seat in the nation’s capital Beirut. Sassine ran alongside Nasri Maalouf

Nasri Maalouf

Nasri Maalouf was a Lebanese politician. He was a Melkite Greek Catholic, and was known as a moderate and peacemaker in Lebanese politics....

and together, as independents, won against the government-backed coalition lead by Sheikh Pierre Gemayel

Pierre Gemayel

Sheikh Pierre Gemayel , was a Lebanese political leader...

- including Minister of Foreign Affairs Fouad Boutros.

1970 Presidential elections

In the closest and possibly most controversial presidential election in Lebanese history, Sleiman Frangieh was elected President of the Republic by the National Assembly on August 17, 1970 with a majority of one single vote. The presidency being the most powerful political institution in pre-1990 Lebanon the presidential race was of particular importance as it came after 12 years of continuous Shihabist rule (Fuad Shihab 1958-1964, and Charles Helou

Charles Helou

Charles Helou was President of Lebanon from 1964 to 1970.Born in Beirut, Helou was the scion of a powerful Maronite family from Baabda. He graduated with honours from St. Joseph's University in Beirut in 1929, and went on to complete a Law degree in 1934...

, 1964–1970). The two main opposing candidates emerged to be Elias Sarkis

Elias Sarkis

Elias Sarkis was the President of the Lebanese Republic from 1976 to 1982.-Early career:Born in Shabbaniah, Sarkis graduated with a Law degree from Saint Joseph University in 1948. After joining the judicial corps in 1953, he became a judge with the Accounting Department...

– then Governor of the Central Bank – backed by the Shihabi regime; and Sleiman Frangieh backed by the opposition. http://www.jstor.org/pss/4282770

On the third voting round, Frangieh received majority by a single vote over Elias Sarkis. Sabri Hamadeh, then Speaker of Parliament and supporter of the Shihab regime, refused to announce the election of a President on such a low margin, and walked out of Parliament. Michel Sassine, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, stepped up and assumed the responsibilities of Speaker and announced Frangieh President in a move that saved the country of an inevitable political vacuum. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KGAiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SasFAAAAIBAJ&pg=879,4934143&dq=michel+sassin&hl=en,http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=13521, http://www.scribd.com/doc/53686385/Michel-Sassine-Biography-draft-version

(See two additional pictures of Sassine announcing Frangieh President:http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7387/sassinefranjieh.jpg, http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/6040/michelsassinevssabriham.jpg)

Sassine moved to serve as Minister and Vice-Prime Minister in the four different governments between 1972-1975 under the mandate of President Frangieh.http://www.scribd.com/doc/53686385/Michel-Sassine-Biography-draft-version

His relationship with President Camille Chamoun

Michel Sassine initially got elected as an independent and was never part of any political party throughout his career. Nevertheless, he developed a close political and personal relationship with President Camille Chamoun

Camille Chamoun

Camille Nimr Chamoun was President of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958, and one of the country's main Christian leaders during most of the Lebanese Civil War ....

, and took a leading role in the National Liberal Party (Lebanon)

National Liberal Party (Lebanon)

The National Liberal Party is a center-right political party in Lebanon, established by President Camille Chamoun in 1958...

(Al Ahrar) parliamentary block until the death of Chamoun's son Dany

Dany Chamoun

Dany Chamoun was a prominent Lebanese politician. A Maronite Christian and the younger son of former President Camille Chamoun, Dany Chamoun was also a politician in his own right, and was known for his opposition to the occupation of Lebanese territory by foreign forces, whether Syrian or...

in 1990.

Role in Taif Agreement

Sassine was a signatory of the Taif Agreement

Taif Agreement

that ended the Lebanese civil war http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHGJymb_PiM. He was serving as Deputy Speaker of Parliament when Parliament signed the agreement on October 22, 1989 and ratified it on November 4, 1989.
In the post-Taif period Sassine was appointed Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Labor in both the 1990-1992 governments of Salim al-Hoss, and Omar Karami

Omar Karami

Omar Abdul Hamid Karami was the Prime Minister of Lebanon on two separate occasions...

.http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/bgnotes/nea/lebanon9012.html

Other Achievements

Exercised full powers of Vice-Prime Minister and Deputy Speaker of Parliament: as Sassine occupied the highest positions allocated to Greek Orthodox in the Lebanese sectarian system he remains one of the few to have exercised the full power of these offices, as they remain symbolic otherwise. Other than his role in the 1970 Presidential elections, he acted as Speaker of Parliament on numerous occasions and lead parliament on many junctures to pass significant reforms. Sassine’s ability to exercise the Greek Orthodox Deputy responsibilities was due to both strong political backing and personal character.

Saved 13 Lebanese from execution in Guinea: in the early 70’s thirteen Lebanese were sentenced to death in Africa’s Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

in an attempted coup against President Ahmed Sekou Toure
Ahmed Sékou Touré
Ahmed Sékou Touré was an African political leader and President of Guinea from 1958 to his death in 1984...

. As the execution order was to be carried a week after their arrest, and many mediation efforts for their release failed, President Suleiman Frangieh
Suleiman Frangieh
Suleiman Kabalan Frangieh, last name also spelled Frangié, Franjieh, or Franjiyeh , was President of Lebanon from 1970 to 1976...

tasked Michel Sassine, then Vice-Prime Minister, on an urgent diplomatic mission to Guinea. Sassine succeeded in his intervention as Sekou Toure agreed to issue a Presidential pardon and handed all thirteen Lebanese detainees to Sassine to bring back to Lebanon. http://www.politicalarticles.net/blog/2008/10/06/african-dictators-ahmed-sekou-toure-the-father-of-coups/,http://www.scribd.com/doc/53686385/Michel-Sassine-Biography-draft-version

Association to Sassine Square
Sassine Square
Sassine Square is a town square in Beirut, Lebanon, it is one of the most prominent urban areas of East Beirut, Lebanon. Located in the Achrafieh district, Sassine Square is one of the biggest and oldest squares in Beirut....

Sassine Square

Sassine Square is a town square in Beirut, Lebanon, it is one of the most prominent urban areas of East Beirut, Lebanon. Located in the Achrafieh district, Sassine Square is one of the biggest and oldest squares in Beirut....

in Ashrafieh - the biggest and oldest square in Beirut – is one of the most prominent political, social and commercial focal points of the Lebanese capital.http://www.assabil.com/documents/pdfs/ASSABIL_SassRep2_preview.pdf While Sassine Street was named after Michel Sassine’s father Georges in the 1940s’, Michel Sassine moved to get Sassine Square officially inaugurated in the early 90’s under the auspices of President Elias Hrawi

Elias Hrawi

Elias Hrawi was a President of Lebanon, whose term of office ran from 1989 to 1998.He was a native of the Beqaa valley. He was elected on 24 November 1989, two days after the assassination of René Moawad, who had held office for just seventeen days...

and Prime-Minister Rafic Hariri.http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=41&article=593622&issueno=11663,http://www.yabeyrouth.com/pages/index3646.htm