The
National Liberal Party (NLP, Arabic: حزب الوطنيين الأحرار ,
literally Hizbu-l-waTaniyyīni-l-aHrār) is a political party
in Lebanon, established by President Camille Chamoun in
1958. It is now under the leadership of Dory Chamoun, his
son.
The party has adopted a hard line in regard to the
preservation of Lebanese independence, and to the safeguard
of the distinctive liberal practices in Lebanon with respect
to freedom of expression and opinion and religious freedoms.
Like most Lebanese political organization, it has a
sectarian basis; the NLP is mainly supported by Christians.
(For more information on this, see Demographics of Lebanon)
In 1968, the party joined The Helf Alliance formed with the
two other big mainly Christian parties in Lebanon: the
Kataeb of Pierre Gemayel, and National Bloc of Raymond Eddé.
During the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-90, the NLP was
aligned with the mainly Maronite Christian alliance who
fought the Lebanese National Movement (LNM). It had its own
armed militia, the Tigers. In 1976, the NLP joined with the
Kataeb Party (Phalange) and the Lebanese Renewal Party (LRP)
to form the Lebanese Front, a political coalition. This was
parallelled by the joining of the militias under a central
command, the Lebanese Forces, headed by Phalange leader
Bashir Gemayel. In 1980, Gemayel turned on the Tigers, and
in a surprise attack in Safra eliminated the militia. The
NLP has survived as a party, however. Nevertheless, with the
death of Camille Chamoun in 1987 and the assassination of
his successor and son Dany in 1990, combined with the rise
of the Lebanese Forces as political party, it seems that the
NLP's political influence has considerably declined
comparing to the 1960s and 1970s.
In 2005 the NLP was part of the Qornet Shehwan Gathering,
opposed to the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, but later left
because of what it alleged was "corruption" in this
gathering.
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