Schism over LCP's ninth conference

Rivalry between the different factions of the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) came to the fore as the LCP leadership announced that the party's ninth conference would be held by the end of October.

While several communists believe that the current leadership has pre-fabricated the results of elections that would secure the re-election of most officials, the leadership accused former leaders of walking out on the party and taking the disagreement to the pages of newspapers instead of debating it inside LCP's institutions.

But an unexpected rumor found its way to the party's rank and file, the intention of former secretary general who still enjoys vast popular support among communists George Hawi, to run for the party's top position.

Source told Alternative that Hawi was trying to keep his candidacy at low profile since he did not want to run for his former position unless he secured guarantees of his victory.

Meanwhile, communist opposition that has organized itself into what came to be known as the Forces of Democracy and Reform, continued in organizing their rank and file.

Divisions among the various leftist factions came to the fore, however, with the Baabda-Aley by-election. While some leftists thought it mandatory to openly support Free Patriotic Movement's (FPM) candidate Hikmat Deeb, other leftists believed they should support Deeb without specifically naming him.

The second faction therefore increased its activism among volunteers of the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE).

"By making sure that by-election went democratic without violations of reules and regulations, we would be helping the election of the candidate who deserves to make it to the parliament," one activist said.

"But this does not mean that we were neutral during by-election for we openly denounced political inheritance," the activist added. Other leftists saw by-election as a chance to pratice "their democratic right."