History of the National Liberal Party (Al Wataniyoun Al Ahrar)

 The National Liberal Party (NLP) was founded in July 1958 by the President of the Lebanese Republic Mr. Camille Nemr Chamoun.

Since its foundation the NLP has played a major role in Lebanese politics. The charismatic personality of its leader who was one of the main creators and founders of an independant Lebanon, and who in 1958 succeded in keeping Lebanon out of the clutches of Gamal Abdel Nasser in his bid to make Lebanon the third star in the flag of the United Arab Republic, gave the NLP a halo of hard core Lebanese resistance which attracted a very large number of adherents from all factions of Lebanese society. By the end of the Sixties the NLP had the largest bloc of M.Ps in the Lebanese Parliament and became the only party to possess members representing the various religious communities.

As of 1975 the role of the parliament began to diminish, fighting increased and spread to all parts of Lebanon and slowly the militias supplanted official and government institutions.

As of 1974 the NLP led in the effort to counteract the Kissinger plan to transform Lebanon into a replacement home for the Palestenians. The role of the NLP was twofold, the first to act as a political cementing agent between all the Lebanese nationals by creating an umbrella organization known as the Lebanese Front - headed by President Chamoun - , and the second was to mobilize a militia known as the Noumours (the Tigers referring to Camille Chamoun's middle name which means tiger in Arabic) manned with 4000 well trained and hard fighting party members. The Noumours were the most valorous of all the militias, holding the hottest spots on the demarcation lines and spearheading all the major attacks against the Palestinian strongholds. The last action taken by the Noumours before their disbandment in 1980 was the very decisive role they played in ousting the Syrian regular army from East Beirut in 1978.

In 1985 Camille Chamoun handed over the presidency of the party to his younger son Danny Chamoun who was an engineer by formation and who had formed and headed the Noumours. Danny Chamoun served as a very popular figure until his assassination took place one week after the demise of General Michel Aoun (Prime minister and acting head of state), at the hands of the Syrian army, and in an area where they were the only authority.

This sad turn of events drove Dory Chamoun the elder son of Camille Chamoun back into politics after a self imposed absence of seven years. Having been the spiritual father of the NLP who inspired the creation of the party in 1958, and who held numerous offices within the party since its creation, suddenly became the only heir apparent and was obliged to accept the leadership of the Party under much insistence on the part of its beleaguered leadership.

In 1991 the Lebanese Government, which is of total Syrian obedience, and following standard Syrian political practices, decided to replace the deceased M.Ps by nominating their replacements. This undemocratic practice worthy of the best totalitarian regimes was an innovation to Lebanon where parliamentary elections have been held since the French mandate.

The NLP was offered seats but refused to partake in such an anti constitutional fraud. A few months later in the summer of 1992 and with no apparent excuse, mock election were held to cover the actual nomination of 128 members. Electoral regions were tailored to fit all the pro Syrian candidates and elections were rigged on the base of electoral lists that dated back to the elections of 1972. Half of the voters mentioned on these lists were either dead or had emigrated to Canada, Australia and other parts of the world.

The NLP boycotted the elections together with the grand majority of the Lebanese population. As a matter of fact the government figures showed a participation which represented 13,6% of the total number of voters, whereas the real figure was well below 6%. The result is that the NLP as well as a number of non Syrian abiding parties have no M.Ps in a totally pro Syrian parliament.

The NLP today is at the heart of the opposition and holds a very respectable popular support amongst all factions of the Lebanese population. The party has after a short period of voluntary curtailment of activities, and after a certain amount of restructuring, restarted its activities in the various domains and according to the amount of liberties allowed under the double Syro-Israeli occupation.

The NLP student body is very active and has already participated in a number of regional and international festivals and conferences. They have very active cells in most universities carrying bravely the Lebanese flag against others of Syrian obedience.

The Secretariat for youth is also reborn and preparing a number of activities in the ecological, social and sporting fields.

Our general territorial expansion covers all of Lebanon but is kept low-key and out of the time light in order to spare the members certain pressures and difficulties.

It is fair to conclude that the popularity of NLP is growing steadily and healthily with a fair amount owed to the non existence of other serious parties and to the ever growing dislike by the population for the occupier and the Vichy style puppet government