Raymond Eddé

Raymond Eddé (Arabic: ريمون إدّه; 15 March 1913 – 10 May 2000) was a Lebanese Maronite statesman who served his country for many years as a legislator and cabinet minister.

Eddé was born in Alexandria, Egypt, where his father, a native of the town of Edde in the Byblos District and an opponent of Ottoman control of Lebanon, had taken refuge after being sentenced to death for subversion.

The following year, however, he had a public falling out with Chehab over what he saw as interference in political and electoral affairs by the Deuxième Bureau (Lebanon's military intelligence service), and resigned from the cabinet in protest.

In the parliamentary election held that year, the Helf Alliance won 30 seats in the 99 member National Assembly – the best result to date for any organized electoral force in Lebanon's notoriously fractured legislature.

He also opposed diverting the tributaries of the Jordan River, an Arab League proposal floated in 1964 and again in 1968, with a view to cutting off Israel's water supply.

When the Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975, Eddé was the only major Christian politician to be living in the predominantly Sanyah quarter of Sunni Muslim West Beirut.

In 1976, Eddé stood as a candidate for the Presidency; his failure to win a single vote in the National Assembly led to allegations of electoral misconduct.