March 8 Alliance

Lebanon

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The March 8 Alliance is a coalition of various political parties in Lebanon. It has been the ruling coalition since January 25, 2011 when the alliance managed to nominate Najib Mikati as the new prime minister.

History

The name dates back to 8 March, 2005 when different parties called for a mass demonstration in downtown Beirut in response to the Cedar Revolution. The demonstration thanked Syria for helping stop the Lebanese Civil War and the aid in stabilising Lebanon and supporting the Lebanese resistance to the Israeli occupation.

Although the Free Patriotic Movement was initially considered as part of the March 14 Alliance, through its participation in the Cedar Revolution's mass demonstration on 14 March, 2005, on 6 February, 2006, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hezbollah and thus left the March 14 Alliance.^{[citation needed]}

Membership changes

In March and April 2008 Michel Murr and his bloc quit the "Change and Reform Bloc" of Michel Aoun.^{[1][non-primary source needed]} declaring a more independent stand.

The Progressive Socialist Party left the March 14 alliance in January 2011 after being one of its cornerstones, and aligned itself on the March 8 Alliance, the "Change and Reform Bloc". This move gave the March 8 Alliance and its partners a majority in the parliament, allowing them to name Najib Miqati Prime Minister to head a coalition government.^{[citation needed]}

Constituent parties

The current majority holds 68 of 128 seats in the parliament after the 2009 elections and consists of:

Party	Arabic Name	Seats in Parliament (after 2009 election)	Demographic Base
Free Patriotic Movement	at-Tayyar al-Watani al-Hurr	19	Secular, predominantly Christian
Amal Movement	Harakat Amal	13	Secular, predominantly Shi'a Muslim
Hezbollah	Hizballah	12	Shi'a Muslim
Progressive Socialist Party	al-Hizb at-Taqaddumi al-Ishtiraki	7	Secular, predominantly Druze
Lebanese Democratic Party	al-Hizb ad-Dimuqrati al-Lubnani	4	Secular, Druze
El Marada Movement	Tayyar al-Marada	3	Christian, mainly Maronite
Glory Movement	Harakat Majd	2	Sunni Muslim
Armenian Revolutionary Federation	Tashnag	2	Secular Armenian
Syrian Social Nationalist Party	al-Hizb as-Suri al-Qawmi al-Ijtima'i	2	Secular with support across all communities
Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party	Hizb al-Ba'th al-Arabi al-Ishtiraki	2	Secular
Solidarity Party	Hizb at-Tadamoun	1	Maronite Christian
Skaff Bloc	Kutlat Skaff	0	Secular, mainly Greek Catholic
Popular Nasserite Organization	at-Tanzim ash-Sha’bi al-Nasiri	0	Secular, mainly Sunni Muslim
Arab Democratic Party	al-Hizb ad-Dimuqrati al-Arabi	0	Alawi Muslims

References

1. ^ http://forum.tayyar.org/f8/michel-el-mur-independent-33138.html