The Democratic Renewal Movement

On the 15th of July 2001 the Democratic Renewal Movement held its founding convention in the Rotana-Gefinor Hotel in Beirut. Metn MP and founding member Nassib Lahoud outlined, on behalf of the founding members, the motives that led to the formation of the party and its political agenda:

Democratic Renewal Movement Political Agenda

1- Sovereignty: The absence of sovereignty, freedom and democracy necessitate the presence of a political force that will work in the direction of promoting and safeguarding these three essential values. The Democratic Renewal Movement is a reformist party whose main target is to safeguard democracy and freedoms in Lebanon.

2- Relations with Syria: The Democratic Renewal Movement is aware that Lebanon is an independent and sovereign state that lives in harmony with its Arab environment. The Movement will work for the best possible relations with neighboring Arab countries on the basis of safeguarding the sovereignty of all parties. The Democratic Renewal Movement also calls for correcting and straightening out Lebanese-Syrian relations for the sake of enriching and strengthening them. The Movement is totally convinced that the Lebanese-Syrian future can only be a shared and interactive future for the benefit of both countries and peoples. The Movement calls for implementing the Taif National Understanding provisions with regard to the Syrian military presence in Lebanon both in terms of redeployment and size and duration of their presence. The Movement also calls for an end to Syria's strong political influence on Lebanese politics, which threatens societal and popular relations between the two countries.

3- Social Reform: The absence of a strong state with a social developmental plan causes the fragmentation of Lebanese society on a sectarian basis, and leads to an upsurge in fundamentalism. This requires a social mechanism to counter such a drive and boost Lebanon's internal unity. The Democratic Renewal Movement is a moderate reformist non-sectarian party that addresses itself to all reformist members of Lebanese society, regardless of their religious and sectarian affiliations, and invites them to join and participate in developing an appropriate mechanism to promote internal unity through a comprehensive social developmental plan. The Democratic Renewal Movement is aware of the Lebanese social mosaic and aims at promoting social cohesion and integration while safeguarding the pluralistic nature of the Lebanese society. The Movement views the post-war Taif National Understanding as a good starting point for building a unified state.

4- Economic Reform: Lebanon's severe economic crisis necessitates the formulation of a new socio-economic pact that would curb the budget deficit and public debt, and lay down the foundations for a modern, open and productive economy, which would ensure a fair distribution of public wealth. The Democratic Renewal Movement's platform calls for cutting down inflation and surplus employees in public departments and institutions, privatizing certain public utilities, and reforming the taxation system.

5- Sending Army to the South: The Democratic renewal movement hails the achievements of the Islamic resistance movement in forcing Israel to withdraw from Lebanon and appeals to the government to protect this "historic accomplishment" by re-establishing its presence and authority in the South. The Movement upholds the right of the Palestinian people to establish its own independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of the refugees to return to their homeland. The Movement proposes mobilizing all efforts within a comprehensive Arab strategy as well as a Lebanese-Syrian partnership to regain violated Arab rights in Palestine and the Golan Heights.

6- Political Coordination: To achieve these goals the Democratic Renewal Movement proclaims its will to cooperate with other groups present on the rich Lebanese political scene.

Politburo

During the opening ceremony the founding members of the Movement held a closed meeting' in which they elected a political bureau of fifteen members: Nassib Lahoud (President), Bassem EI-Jisr (Vice-President), Antoine Haddad (Secretary), Kamil Ziadeh (Treasurer), Mosbah AI-Ahdab (Representative of movement in the Council of ministers), Paul Ashkar, Joseph Bahout, Hareth Suleiman, Assem Salam, Fouad Boustany, Mona Khalaf, Mona Fayyad, Michel Samaha, Nadim Salem, Wafik Zantout (members).

Founding Members

The democratic Renewal Movement's founding parley consists of 49 members of different professional backgrounds such as politicians, economists, social activists, businessmen, lawyers, academicians and journalists. The movement has no sectarian coloring.

The 49 members are: Asaad Tohme (Businessman), Ismail Badran (Barrister), Albert Abi Azar (Social Activist), Amine Maalouf (Lawyer), Antoine Taouk (Researcher), Antoine Haddad (Professor), Bassem EI-Jisr (Lawyer and author, former Director of Arab World Institute in Paris), Paul Ashkar (Journalist), Boulos Mattar (Professor), Pierre Farah (Physician, professor, dean of USJ medical school), George Ksaify (Development specialist), George Osseily (Industrialist, former president of Lebanese Industrialists' Association), Joseph Bahout (Professor), Joseph Tohme (Businessman, political activist), Hareth Suleiman (Professor), Habib Maalouf (Journalist, author, environmental activist), Habib Nassar (Lawyer, political activist), Hassib Lahoud (Marketing manager), Rafi Madayan (politician), Ziad Baroud (Lawyer, professor), Samir Daher (Monetary specialist), Samir Mrad (Author), Suha Bsat (Media specialist), Tony Choueiri (Banker), Adel Honein (Businessman), Assem Salam (Engineer, former president of Lebanese Order of Engineers), Ghasan Slaibi (Social specialist), Fouad Boustany (Physician, former president of Lebanese Association of Doctors), Farouk Jabr (Businessman), Claude Edde (Manager), Kamal Boueiz (Lawyer), Kamil Ziadeh (Former MP), Kamil Manassah (Journalist), Mazen Hayek (Manager), Malek Meroueh (Businessman, journalist), Mahmoud Soueid (Researcher), Mosbah AI-Ahdab (MP), Melhem Shaoul (Professor), Mona Khalaf (Professor), Michel Samaha (Former MP and minister), Michel Akl (Engineer), Najwa Aboul Hesn (Journalist), Nada Shaoul (Professor), Nadim Salem (Former MP and minister), Nassib Lahoud
(MP), Wadad Mrad (Social activist), Wafic Zantout (Businessman), Youssef Khalil (Professor, economic specialist).