Democratic Left Movement (Lebanon)

Democratic Left Movement (Lebanon)

The Democratic Left Movement (DLM, Arabic: حركة اليسار الديمقراطي‎ Harakat Al-Yassar Al-Dimuqratiy, Arabic acronym HYD) is a leftist political party with seats in the Lebanese Parliament. It was founded in September 2004 by left-wing and center-left intellectuals and activists some of whom had previously split from the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) while some were student activists from the "Independent Leftist Groups". The DLM affirms a European-style social democracy—but is open to all forms of leftism—and encourages the development of a secular state. The party operates under a decentralized framework that emphasizes diversity of thought. It participated in the 2005 Cedar Revolution, a wave of demonstrations against the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and calls for correcting imbalanced relations with Syria.

The DLM won its first parliamentary seat in Lebanon's 2005 elections representing the Tripoli district. On June 2, 2005, amid election rounds, Samir Kassir, a founder of the movement, was assassinated in a car bombing. Less than one month later, George Hawi, a former secretary general of the Lebanese Communist Party and an ally of the DLM, was killed in a similar car bombing in Beirut. In the 2009 elections, the party again won a single seat, instead representing the West Bekaa district. It is a member of the March 14 Alliance parliamentary coalition.