Michel Moawad

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-.[1]

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.[2]

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.