Druze MP Talal Arslan at Baabda Palace on June 25, 2021. (Credit: Dalati and Nohra)
BEIRUT — A list of candidates from an alliance between the Free Patriotic Movement and pro-Hezbollah Druze leaders Talal Arslan and Wiam Wahhab was announced Sunday in the Mount Lebanon IV (Chouf-Aley) constituency, the MTV channel reported.
Here’s what we know:
• The list includes the following candidates: in Aley, Tala Arslan (Druze), Caesar Abi Khalil (Maronite), Antoine Boustany (Maronite) and Tarek Khairallah (Orthodox); in the Chouf, Farid Boustany (Maronite), Wiam Wahhab (Druze), Naji Boustany (Maronite), Ahmad Najmeddine (Sunni), Oussama Meouch (Sunni), Ghassan Atallah (Catholic) and Antoine Abboud (Maronite).
• The list, named “The Mountain,” held its first meeting today at Arslan’s home in Khaldeh. The candidates signed the document, which will be registered on Monday with the Interior Ministry. The deadline for list registration is midnight on Monday.
• According to MTV, the formation of this list took weeks of negotiations, as Arslan and Wahhab insisted on including former minister Naji Boustany, while the head of the FPM Gebran Bassil and Farid Boustany were initially opposed.
• The Mount Lebanon IV constituency is the largest in Lebanon by number of seats (13). Formed by the districts of Chouf and Aley, it is the stronghold par excellence of the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, rival of Talal Arslan and Wiam Wahhab. In total, this constituency includes five Maronite, one Greek-Orthodox, one Greek-Catholic, four Druze and two Sunni seats.
• This year, the Progressive Socialist Party and the Lebanese Forces have again joined forces against the Aounists, but the Sunni Future Movement led by Saad Hariri is missing. Sunnis constitute a good third of the electorate in the Chouf. A massive demobilization of the Haririans can only weaken, even if only partially, the PSP-LF alliance.