New faces but old names

Fresh young faces may be campaigning to win a seat in Lebanon’s parliament next month, but their family names are anything but new. For decades the same families have played a pivotal role in the small Middle Eastern country, officially ruled by a parliamentary democratic system but where political power is still informally handed down through generations. As Lebanon finally heads to the legislative polls after a nine-year hiatus, several candidates hail from a third — or even fourth generation — of the same political clans.

There are such cases in almost all of the 18 communities represented in Lebanon’s complex confessional system.

Faced with accusations of “nepotism” and “feudalism”, these sons and daughters of influential men have defended what they say is a genuine desire for reform.

Incumbent candidate Nadim Gemayel was elected a member of parliament in 2009, but politics have decades-old roots in his family tree. He is the youngest son of late president-elect Bachir Gemayel, killed in 1982, and the grandson of Pierre Gemayel, who founded the Phalangist (Kataeb) Party in which Nadim is now a leading official.

First-time candidate Zaher Eido rejects any accusations his surname might have “parachuted” him into circles of power.

He is running in Beirut just over a decade since his father, also a lawmaker, and older brother died in a car bomb in the capital.

The 44-year-old banker says he wants to apply his professional experience towards passing new legislation to fight money laundering.

Michelle Tueini, 31, has already partially followed in the footsteps of her father Gebran as a journalist after he was assassinated in 2005.

She is now also running for parliament like him, taking over from her elder sister Nayla, a lawmaker for the past nine years.

The country’s own prime minister Saad Hariri ascended to power after his father Rafik held the post for years. Hariri’s campaign posters, plastered across Beirut, feature portraits of his father.

The list goes on: candidate Taymour Jumblatt is the child of Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid and the grandson of Kamal, who founded the Progressive Socialist Party.

Tony Franjieh is the fourth generation of his political family: his great-grandfather Suleiman was elected head of state in 1970 and his own father was in the running for the presidency in 2016.

Even current President Michel Aoun’s nephew and two sons-in-law are running for parliamentary office.