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Selim al-Hoss
Selim Ahmed al-Hoss (born 1929) is a Lebanese politician.
Al-Hoss, a Sunni Muslim, served as Prime Minister of Lebanon three times. The first was from 1976 until 1980 during the first years of the Lebanese Civil War. His second, and most controversial term, was from 1987 until 1990. From January to September 1988, he boycotted meetings of his own Cabinet, in protest against the policies of President, Amine Gemayel. On 22 September of that year, he refused to accept his dismissal in favour of General Michel Aoun, a Maronite Christian. The crisis was precipitated by the failure of the National Assembly to elect a new President (a post reserved by tradition for a Maronite). As the Prime Minister temporarily acts as President in the event of a vacancy, Gemayel decided to appoint a Maronite to that office, notwithstanding the tradition of reserving it for a Sunni Muslim. Aoun and al-Hoss established rival administrations; with Aoun occupying the presidential palace at Baabda , al-Hoss set up his own office in Muslim-dominated West Beirut. Lebanon was thus left with no President and two rival governments. It was al-Hoss, however, who was recognized by most of the international community.
The rival Prime Ministers soon came into violent conflict over the refusal of the latter to accept the presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon. Al-Hoss served as acting president from 1988 until November 5 1989, when Rene Moawad took office. When Moawad was assassinated only seventeen days later, Al-Hoss served as acting president again for two days, until Elias Hrawi was elected to succeed Moawad.
In 1990, the civil war ended when Aoun was forced to surrender following an attack on the presidential palace, where he was still holding out, but Syrian and Lebanese military forces. Al-Hoss subsequently resigned as Prime Minister, in favour of Omar Karami. Al-Hoss served as prime minister again from December 1998 to October 2000. During his last two terms as prime minister, he was also foreign minister. Al-Hoss received a doctorate in business and economics from the University of Indiana in the United States and is known as a technocrat. In March 2005, he was considered as a candidate to form a new government following the resignation of Omar Karami (Prime Minister again), but he reportedly to accept the position for health reasons, and Karami was subsequently reappointed.
|- style="text-align: center;"
| width="30%" |Preceded by:
Rashid Karami
| width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Prime Minister of Lebanon
1987–1990
| width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Omar Karami
|- style="text-align: center;"
| width="30%" |Preceded by:
Rafik Hariri
| width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Prime Minister of Lebanon
1998–2000
| width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Rafik Hariri
| Preceded by: Amine Gemayel | President of Lebanon 1988–1989 (acting) | Succeeded by: René Moawad |
| Preceded by: René Moawad | President of Lebanon 1989 (acting) | Succeeded by: Elias Hrawi |
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