Michel Moawad, center, speaks during the Shamal Al Mouwajaha launch at Anfeh, Saturday (Credit: Screenshot, Al Jadeed)
BEIRUT — An independent list of candidates in North Lebanon III, “Shamal Al Mouwajaha,” was announced Saturday during a campaign launch event in Anfeh.
Here’s what we know:
• Former MP, Michel Moawad, founder of the Independence Movement who resigned in protest after the Aug 4 2020 Beirut port blast, characterized the list’s goals as “a battle to regain our identity and a battle for existence in the face of Hezbollah's arms, that does not resemble us.” The campaign’s electoral program focuses on seven points: “Sovereignty, neutrality, the rule of law, governance, a free and fair economy, exiting the crisis, and the North.”
• The list’s candidates include Adib Abdel Massih, Brigitte Khair and Dr. Emil Fayad for the three Orthodox seats in Koura; Michel Moawad, Tony Mardini and Jawad Boulos for Zgharta’s three Maronite seats; Dr. Rachid Rahme for the Maronite seat in Bcharre; and Joelle Howayeck and Majd Harb for the two Maronite seats in Batroun.
• Former Kataeb MP, Elias Hankach, who also resigned in protest after the port blast, said during an interview with Lebanon’s Al Jadeed Saturday that the electoral contest in the North Lebanon III constituency is “one of the most important battles” in which they would be “facing the pillars of power, the first of which is the head of the [FPM], Gebran Bassil.”
• "The Kataeb-Moawad-Harb alliance, not the result of the moment, but of a long path that began with Moawad's resignation from parliament, which showed that 90 percent of views are shared," Hankach added.
• The list will be facing independent list Shamaluna, whose candidates were chosen through a primary election involving several opposition groups.