List Of Political Parties In Lebanon
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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.
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