Political parties forge alliances as deadline passes for candidacy in municipal polls

Political alliances in the upcoming municipal polls were being mapped out over the past few days as the Interior Ministry announced Tuesday April 4, 2010, as a deadline for presenting candidacies for  the Mount Lebanon district.

Following Monday’s announcement of an agreement between Hizbullah and the Amal Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and the Lebanese Democratic Party (LDP) declared their alliance Tuesday.

“It is a new phase and page in relations between both parties, a page that was turned in May 2008 after a joint stance that saved the mountains from a national catastrophe,” PSP Secretary Sharif Fayyad said following a meeting between delegations of both parties.

Arslan, Jumblatt’s rival Druze leader, mediated talks between the latter and Hizbullah officials to put an end to the bloody clashes that took place in the Chouf between PSP and Hizbullah fighters.

The clashes broke out on May 7, 2008, in Beirut and spread out to the Chouf region following the Cabinet’s decision to dismantle Hizbullah’s telecommunications network.