Bechara El Khoury (10 August 1890 ? 11 January 1964) was the fi rst post-independence President of Lebanon, holding offi ce from 21 September 1943 to 18 September 1952, apart from an 11-day interruption (11?22 November) in 1943. He had previously served two brief terms as Prime Minister, from 5 May 1927 to 10 August 1928 and from 9 May to 11 October 1929. Khoury is remembered for his part in drawing up the National Pact, an agreement between Lebanon's Christian and Muslim leaders which forms the basis of the country's constitutional structure today, although it was not codifi ed in the Constitution until the Taif Agreement of 1989. In the Pact, Christians accepted Lebanon's affi liation with the Arab League and agreed not to seek French protection, which Muslims agreed to accept the Lebanese state in its present boundaries and promised not to seek unifi cation with neighbouring Syria. The Pact also distributed seats in the National Assembly in a ratio of six Christians to fi ve Muslims, based on the 1932 census (this has since been modifi ed to represent followers of the two religions equally). Most signifi cantly, the three main constitutional offi ces (President, Prime Minister, and National Assembly Speaker) were assigned to a Maronite Christian, Sunni Muslim, and Shi?a Muslim, Lebanon's three largest confessions, respectively. Khoury's years in offi ce were marked by great economic growth, but the 1948 Israeli War of Independence (in which Lebanon fought on the Arab side) strained the Lebanese economy with its fi nancial cost and with the infl ux of some 100,000 Palestinian refugees. These factors, along with suspicions of corruption in Khoury's administration, provoked massive demonstrations which forced him to resign on 18 September 1952. He was succeeded by Camille Chamoun, although technically Fuad Chehab succeeded him temporarily as acting president.