Marada Slams FPM-LF Alliance as 'Christian Sykes-Picot Agreement'

A senior Marada Movement official has slammed the rising Free Patriotic Movement-Lebanese Forces alliance as a “Christian Sykes-Picot Agreement” aimed at eliminating the other Christian political forces in the country.

“Their agreement is a Christian Sykes-Picot aimed at splitting gains between the FPM and the LF and attempting to impose what resembles a 'political mandate' on the Christian arena,” the Marada official told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Thursday.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement was a secret 1916 agreement between Britain and France under which the two world powers agreed to divide Ottoman-held Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Palestine into various French- and British-administered areas.

“They are trying to monopolize the Christian arena and prevent the emergence of a significant bloc that opposes them,” he added.

“This exclusionary scheme will not be allowed to happen and it will be confronted,” the Marada official vowed.

The official noted that the current “behavior” of the FPM-LF alliance “will automatically push all the affected Christian parties to align in one front to counter the elimination attempt that they are facing.”

“Marada supports proportional representation, because it is the only way to protect political diversity and establish cross-regional alliances,” the official went on to say.

“The FPM and the LF are seeking to implement the winner-takes-all system in the regions that they think are their strongholds while seeking to implement proportional representation in regions where they are weak,” the official charged.

And noting that Marada chief MP Suleiman Franjieh is “not worried” about the fate of the parliamentary seats dedicated to the Zgharta district seeing as “he can win them under any electoral law and regardless of the strength of the FPM-LF alliance,” the Marada official pointed out that “the Marada chief is keen on securing the best possible circumstances for the other Christian parties to engage in fair elections, from Akkar to Jezzine and from Zahle to Mount Lebanon.”

The official also said that Hizbullah will likely reject “any electoral law that threatens its Christian allies and friends who are not part of the Rabieh-Maarab agreement,” noting that “Hizbullah has no interest in seeing (LF leader) Samir Geagea winning a large number of Christian political seats under the excuse of his alliance with (President Michel) Aoun.”

“The electoral law should be based on unified standards that apply to all parties,” the official stressed.