Mallat named as ‘contender in the National Dialogue’: Campaign forcing democracy on the Lebanese scene

Leading Kuwait democrat acknowledges impact of campaign in ‘My friend as president of the republic’ published in newspapers throughout the region.

National and Youth Committees formed in support of independent presidency

Shaping up the Arab world to Lebanon’s democratic imperative

International Campaign Initiatives in Washington

Get the best president you can, the best ministers you can, and the rest will follow. Chibli Mallat in interview with Executive Magazine, March 2006

"As for me, I have realized that in reaching out to the people, it is vital to look to the future ". Candidate Chibli Mallat, The Daily Star, March 5, 2006. Candidate Mallat intensified efforts at both the political and popular levels in a week of high-profile meetings and gatherings of diverse citizen groups.

'Never in the past has a program been put forward by a presidential candidate. I want to break this because we deserve to have a different process'. Mallat focused on 'constitutional mechanism' in meetings with key political and spiritual leaders and in the media including as guest of BBC Hardtalk.

This week: Candidate Mallat to reveal Constitutional plan to elect a new president

Candidate Mallat held separate meetings with high ranking Norwegian officials and with leading Lebanese politicians, conducting a number of interviews with Danish, Iranian, and Lebanese media organizations in recent days.

During an active week of campaigning in the U.S., presidential candidate Chibli Mallat addressed select audiences in New York, New Haven and Washington. He also met prominent Lebanese, UN and US leaders, including MP Saad Hariri and International Republican Institute president Lorne Craner.

“….the extraordinary Lebanese Independence Movement which started on 14th of March, has neither leadership which resembles it, nor a president who represents it.” Chibli Mallat, interview in Magazine, January 13, 2006

Candidate Mallat addressed key issues in numerous interviews, articles, and citizen gatherings in recent days, praising the “peaceful revolution that the Lebanese are armed with to regain the soul of the constitution, the oldest in the Middle East” in his front page article published January 3 in the prominent Lebanese daily As Safir.

In a significant development, Mallat discussed issues related to international justice in a one-hour long working session held December 22 with PM Fouad Seniora and Sadreddine el Sadr, the son of Imam Moussa El Sadr who disappeared in Libya in 1978. As part of his close cooperation with the Lebanese leaders On December 23, he also had a long working session with respected political head of the National Bloc, Amid Carlos Eddé...

Candidate Mallat actively engaged the media during the past week on a number of key issues in both television and radio broadcasts. During a special edition 2-hour live interview on Future TV with leading anchor Ali Hamadeh, discussions centered on the call for an international tribunal with Mallat stressing the need for justice not to be delayed, the importance of victims taking the lead internationally, and the need for new leadership at the top level in order to meet the immense challenges confronting Lebanon.

A week of citizen gatherings and working sessions with leading officials