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OPPOSITION POLITICS

‘MMFD syndrome’ — or the fragile life of Lebanon’s new political parties

Essential and cumbersome at the same time, political parties that seek to free themselves from any sectarian logic are struggling to exist in the long run. 

‘MMFD syndrome’ — or the fragile life of Lebanon’s new political parties

Illustration Guilhem Dorandeu/with MidJourney

On Dec. 27, as 2022 came to an end, a case stirred up the Lebanese social media. A group of members of Citizens in a State (Mouwatinoun wa Mouwatinat Fi Dawla, MMFD) slammed the door on the party. The group numbered about 20 — most of them young. These departed members contest a recent amendment that allows the party’s secretary-general, Charbel Nahas, to extend his term. Nahas had distinguished himself in recent years by setting up his own method: a strong party for a strong state. Unlike other protest movements, more inclined to horizontality than the cult of the leader, MMFD has claimed since 2016 a centralized structure and a certain internal discipline. The objective is to have a disciplined group at the service of the establishment of an “integral, civil, democratic and just state.”On the eve of the May 2022 parliamentary...
On Dec. 27, as 2022 came to an end, a case stirred up the Lebanese social media. A group of members of Citizens in a State (Mouwatinoun wa Mouwatinat Fi Dawla, MMFD) slammed the door on the party. The group numbered about 20 — most of them young. These departed members contest a recent amendment that allows the party’s secretary-general, Charbel Nahas, to extend his term. Nahas had distinguished himself in recent years by setting up his own method: a strong party for a strong state. Unlike other protest movements, more inclined to horizontality than the cult of the leader, MMFD has claimed since 2016 a centralized structure and a certain internal discipline. The objective is to have a disciplined group at the service of the establishment of an “integral, civil, democratic and just state.”On the eve of the May 2022...