Elie Mahfoud (
Arabic: ايلي محفوض, born 14 March 1968[1][2] in
Beirut) is a Lebanese lawyer,[3] author, politician,
MP,[4] head of the Change Movement (حركة التغـيير)[5][6][7] and a member of the secretary-general of the
14 March alliance[4] which he belongs to since October 2006,[8] before which he used to be an
FPM official[9] since 1987.[8] He is close to the
Lebanese Forces.[10][11]
Biography
He was born in Beirut on 14 March 1968, to a Christian family from the town of
Andaket in
Akkar,
North Lebanon. He is married to Maria Abu Shakra and they have two sons, Michel and Marc.[12][13]
He grew up with his family in Furn El Chebbak. He received his primary education at the Frère College,[12] and then moved to the
Mont La Salle College in
Ain Saadeh,[12] he then joined the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences at the
Lebanese University and obtained a Bachelor of Laws,[12] then joined in 1993 the Beirut Bar Association as a graduated lawyer in Reda Al-Khazen's office.[12]
He was mentored by
Said Akl and in 1985 founded the Change Movement,[14][3][15] which registered as a Lebanese party on 29 December 2010.[16] Mahfoud belongs to the
Maronite politics and considers the
Lebanese Forces and its leader
Samir Geagea the closest to him,[17] also opposes the Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement.[18]
During the civil war period from 1986 to 1989, he volunteered in the
Red Cross as a
paramedic.[19] He participated rescue operations in military battles of
Jbaa and Jarjoa, which It was between
Hezbollah and the
Amal Movement.[20]
He has published hundreds of articles in many
Lebanese newspapers, and has thousands of positions, statements, statements, television and radio interviews and in the written press. He also published a number of political books like: "We and the Cause", "From the Phoenicians to the Aounists",[21] "Otherwise Lebanon Would End", "The Deception of theCentury",[22] "With Thirty pieces of Silver".[23][24]