Some 7,900 lawyers will be taking part in the elections of the Beirut Bar Association’s Council, scheduled for Sunday, November 19. They are called upon to fill six vacant posts and elect a successor to the outgoing President of the Bar, Nader Gaspard, who has been at the helm since 2021.

Fifteen candidates will be competing for a seat on the association’s council, including eleven vying for the seat of president of the bar.

They are Chawki Chreim, Tanios Eid, Wissam Eid, Iskandar Elias, Fadi Haddad, Labib Harfouche, Youssef Khatib, Farid Khoury, Elie Klimos, Abdo Lahoud, Fadi Masri, Wajih Massaad, Ibrahim Moussallem, Alexandre Najjar and Adib Zakhour.

While Chawki Chreim, Wissam Eid, Labib Harfouche and Elie Klimos have presented their candidacies to the Bar Council, the other eleven lawyers aspire to the post of President of the Bar.

The candidates, the majority of whom are independents, can count on the massive participation of lawyers, for whom professional criteria take precedence over political affiliations. Nonetheless, the main Lebanese parties are engaged in a battle to ensure their candidate’s victory.

The Kataeb party is backing lawyer Fadi Masri, who has been a member of the Bar Council since 2021. For his part, Alexandre Najjar, an independent candidate, could benefit from the support of certain partisans of the Kataeb party, who will not vote in favor of Masri. The Free Patriotic Movement is backing Fadi Haddad, who is also a member of the council. Abdo Lahoud, who is running as an independent, could count on the votes of supporters of the Lebanese Forces. For their part, Tanios Eid, Iskandar Elias, Farid Khoury, Adib Zakhour, Ibrahim Moussallem and Youssef Khatib are running as independents.

To succeed Gaspard, candidates for the position of the association president will have to pass the first round, and thus be elected as members of the Bar Council. Of the four candidates vying for one of the six seats on the council, three are independents: Wissam Eid, Labib Harfouche and Elie Klimos. The fourth, Chawki Chreim, is supported by Hezbollah and the Amal movement.

The Bar Council

The Bar Council is made up of twelve members. Each year, four members are elected for a three-year term. This year, however, six seats are up for grabs, as two of the members, Wajih Massaad and Alexandre Najjar, have resigned to run for the Bar’s top post.

A particularly important event since 1920, given the importance of the Bar both politically and socially, this year’s elections are characterized by the absence of candidates from the October 17, 2019 revolution.