MMFD candidate Mohamad Nasser (Credit: @mmfidawla/Twitter)
BEIRUT — Citizens in a State (MMFD) said Tuesday that the State Shura Council “forced the Interior Ministry” to accept their member Mohamad Nasser’s candidacy for the upcoming parliamentary elections “in spite of him removing his sect from the civil registry records.”
Here’s what we know:
• In a video last week, Nasser expressed his objection to the rejection of his candidacy by the Interior Ministry due to the removal of his sect. A spokesperson for MMFD told L’Orient Today that his lawyer, Mousa Khoury, who is also MMFD’s lawyer and a candidate for the elections, had filed a complaint at the Shura Council, which it accepted and consequently led to the acceptance of his candidacy.
• In a statement, MMFD said, “the decision comes to ensure that the choice to remove the sect from papers should not prevent any citizen from exercising their rights, which are guaranteed by the constitution, and particularly the rights related to running for Parliament.”
• “The choice of Mohamad Nasser to remove his sect is an assurance that belonging to a sect is a personal choice and not a condition for citizenship because the relation for the rights between the government and its citizens is a direct relation and is not mediated through a social relation that the individuals do not choose themselves,” MMFD added
• MMFD, led by former Minister Charbel Nahas, is one of the independent parties participating in the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 15. Its program conflicts with other independent parties on assorted matters, predominantly on how to address the existence of Hezbollah as a militant group outside of the government. The group has taken the stance that the issue of Hezbollah’s arms should be dealt with in a program that tackles the whole sectarian clientelist system, and sees Hezbollah as part of it rather than the main issue.
• In 2009, former Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, who is also the former general director of NGO the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections, issued a circular granting Lebanese citizens the right to remove their sect from their civil registry records.