Electoral Results
In the legislative elections of May and June 2005, the DLM won one seat to become the first leftist political party in the Lebanese Parliament. Holding the Maronite seat of Tripoli, Elias Atallah represented the district as part of the March 14 Alliance, a pro-Western political coalition and parliamentary majority. Atallah received 89,890 votes to defeat rival Fayez Wajih Karam by 14,482 votes.
In the 2009 elections, Atallah could not seek reelection because March 14 selected Samer Saadeh, a Kataeb Party candidate, to run on the coalition's list in the Tripoli district. Meanwhile, Amin Wehbi, another DLM candidate, won a Shiite parliamentary seat in West Bekaa on the March 14 coalition's list. Accruing 34,424 votes, 53% of ballots cast, Wehbi unseated incumbent Nasser Nasrallah of the Amal Movement, who obtained 25,457 votes.
The influence of the DLM, however, stems not from its limited electoral successes but from "its articulation of anti-Syrian positions from a left perspective."
Read more about this topic: Democratic Left Movement (Lebanon)
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