National Liberal Party (Lebanon)

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The National Liberal Party (NLP, Arabic 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 1977, 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 60s and 70s.

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.