List Of Political Parties In Lebanon
| This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. |
Lebanon has numerous political parties, but they play a much less significant role in Lebanese politics than they do in most parliamentary democracies. Many of the "parties" are simply lists of candidates endorsed by a prominent national or local figure. Loose coalitions, usually organized locally, are formed for electoral purposes by negotiation among leaders and candidates representing various religious communities; such coalitions usually exist only for the election, and rarely form a cohesive bloc in the National Assembly after the election. Until 2005, no single party had ever won more than 12.5 percent of the seats in the National Assembly, and no coalition of parties had won more than 35 percent.
Especially outside of the major cities, elections tend to focus more on local than national issues, and it is not unusual for a party to join an electoral ticket in one constituency while aligned with a rival party—even an ideologically opposite party—in another constituency.
Since 2005, and after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic hariri, the political scene has become very polarized, with most major political parties and movements becoming part of one of two big rival alliances, the March 8 Alliance and the March 14 Alliance. However there are also a number of independent Lebanese politicians who are not specifically part of any of the two, but considered "independent" (a third force) loosely allied as a group to supporting the incumbent Lebanese President, now Michel Suleiman.
Read more about List Of Political Parties In Lebanon: Parties
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, political and/or parties:
“Every morning I woke in dread, waiting for the day nurse to go on her rounds and announce from the list of names in her hand whether or not I was for shock treatment, the new and fashionable means of quieting people and of making them realize that orders are to be obeyed and floors are to be polished without anyone protesting and faces are to be made to be fixed into smiles and weeping is a crime.”
—Janet Frame (b. 1924)
“Love’s boat has been shattered against the life of everyday. You and I are quits, and it’s useless to draw up a list of mutual hurts, sorrows, and pains.”
—Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930)
“No political party can ever make prohibition effective. A political party implies an adverse, an opposing, political party. To enforce criminal statutes implies substantial unanimity in the community. This is the result of the jury system. Hence the futility of party prohibition.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)