Supporters of former-president Michel Aoun gathered in front of Baabda Presidential Palace on the occasion of the end of his term on Oct. 31, 2022. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Over the last few years and especially in the past month, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) has seen a significant wave of departures from its ranks. Around 12 prominent members — some of them long-time activists — have either resigned or been sacked over disagreements with the party's leader, Gebran Bassil. The departures started a year after he became leader, appointed in 2015 by his father-in-law and former party leader Michel Aoun, who founded the movement in the early 90s.
Other officials who were close to the party or members of its parliamentary bloc, but didn't have an official party membership card, have distanced themselves from the FPM as well. This was notably the case of former brigadier general and ex-MP Chamel Roukoz, another (former) son-in-law of Michel Aoun, who gradually abandoned the movement until he broke away from it in 2019.
L'Orient Today takes a look at each departure from the Orange party since 2016:
2016: Ziad Abs, Naim Aoun, Antoine Nasrallah and Paul Abi Haydar
This was, in a way, the first major purge within the ranks of the FPM after Gebran Bassil rose to leadership. In 2016, the FPM expelled four of its prominent members; Ziad Abs, Naim Aoun, Antoine Nasrallah and Paul Abi Haydar after accusing them of “committing repeated public and blatant violations that contradict the most basic rules of party discipline.”
Abs' dispute with the FPM first started with his opposition to the party's alliance with Saad Hariri's Future Movement in Beirut's municipal elections. Abs, who was one of the main negotiators of the 2006 Mar Mikhael Agreement between Hezbollah and the FPM, was reportedly not consulted over the alliance with the Future Movement, according to news reports at the time. As a result, during those municipal elections, Abs and other activists supported candidates not endorsed by the FPM.
2020: Michel De Chadarevian resigns
In December 2020, the FPM's diplomatic relations officer and one of its founding members, Michel De Chadarevian, resigned, saying that his task of explaining and defending the FPM's principles had become impossible “in light of contradictions, misguidance and personal interests” and that his resignation is in protest of all the party's policies.
De Chadarevian's disagreement with the FPM was also related to the party's inability to help form a government in 2020 after the resignation of former Prime Minister Hassan Diab's government.
2022: Mario Aoun, Ziad Aswad, Hikmat Dib
In 2022, amid parliamentary elections, the FPM kicked out then-former Members of Parliament Ziad Aswad and Mario Aoun.
The party said that Aswad was expelled due to his "insistence on committing repeated and deliberate violations of the movement's bylaws and legislation." The party added that Aswad attacked in the media his colleagues in the Jezzine district, "leaving a rift in the ranks of the movement in this district."
Aswad was at odds back then with another party member of the same district, Amal Abou Zeid. The tensions between the two former MPs almost caused the implosion of the electoral list in the district.
Regarding Mario Aoun, the FPM dismissed him due to his "blatant violation of the system and the internal mechanism of the parliamentary elections and his public attacks regarding them, as well as his open declaration to work for [candidates] other than those nominated by the movement."
In the same year, former MP Hikmat Dib resigned from the movement mainly due to his exclusion from the parliamentary electoral race. However, according to local news website al-Modon, another reason behind Dib's resignation is the "accumulation of mistakes in managing internal files" following Bassil's assumption of the role of movement leader.
2024: Elias Bou Saab, Alain Aoun, Simon Abi Ramia, Ibrahim Kanaan
In March 2024, FPM expelled Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab, claiming he violated the "provisions of the internal regulations and failed to abide by the directions of the party."
There has been a "silent dispute" between Bou Saab and Bassil since the 2022 parliamentary elections over the electoral list in the Metn, Bou Saab's constituency. The dispute is also related to the presidential elections: Bou Saab did not vote for FPM's candidate Jihad Azour in the last electoral session, which took place in 2023.
After Bou Saab, FPM also expelled MP Alain Aoun from its membership, claiming that Alain violated the party's "decisions and directives at the political, organizational and media levels" and "failed to commit to the party's [decision of voting for Azour] in the last presidential electoral session.
A few days later, MP Simon Abi Ramia, re-elected in 2022 in the Jbeil constituency, announced his decision to leave the FPM, citing "disagreements" with the leadership of the party particularly on the unilateral nature of its decision-making. Commenting on Abi Ramia's resignation, the movement said that he "refused to attend any meeting of the parliamentary group, the political committee, the political council and the national council for around five months."
Finally, and most recently, on Wednesday, Aug. 28, MP Ibrahim Kanaan announced his decision to leave the FPM, two weeks after proposing a reconciliation initiative within the party, which was quickly rejected in an official statement released by the FPM's committee for communication.
