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The March 8 Alliance is a coalition of various political parties in Lebanon. It has been the ruling coalition since January 25, 2011 when the alliance managed to nominate Najib Mikati as the new prime minister.
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The name dates back to 8 March, 2005 when different parties called for a mass demonstration in downtown Beirut in response to the Cedar Revolution. The demonstration thanked Syria for helping stop the Lebanese Civil War and the aid in stabilising Lebanon and supporting the Lebanese resistance to the Israeli occupation.
Although the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) was the basis of the March 14 Alliance movement through the launching of the Liberation War against the Syrian Army on 14 March 1989 and its leading participation to all contests against the Syrian occupation until the Cedar Revolution's mass demonstration on 14 March 2005, unprofessional journalists consider that Free Patriotic Movement left the movement on 6 February, 2006, when it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hezbollah. FPM consider his job against the Syrian regime as finished when its army left Lebanon at the end of April 2005.
With such distortion between the alliance's name and its current reality, nowadays this political denomination is out of date.
In March and April 2008 Michel Murr and his bloc quit the independent "Change and Reform Bloc" of Michel Aoun.[1] declaring a more independent stand.
The Progressive Socialist Party left the March 14 alliance in January 2011 after being one of its cornerstones, and aligned itself on the March 8 Alliance, the "Change and Reform Bloc". This move gave the March 8 Alliance and its partners a majority in the parliament, allowing them to name Najib Miqati Prime Minister to head a coalition government.
The current majority holds 68 of 128 seats in the parliament after the 2009 elections and consists of:
| Party | Arabic Name | Seats in Parliament (after 2009 election) | Demographic Base |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Patriotic Movement | at-Tayyar al-Watani al-Hurr | 19 | Secular, predominantly Christian |
| Amal Movement | Harakat Amal | 13 | Secular, predominantly Shi'a Muslim |
| Hezbollah | Hizballah | 12 | Shi'a Muslim |
| Progressive Socialist Party | al-Hizb at-Taqaddumi al-Ishtiraki | 7 | Secular, predominantly Druze |
| Lebanese Democratic Party | al-Hizb ad-Dimuqrati al-Lubnani | 4 | Secular, Druze |
| El Marada Movement | Tayyar al-Marada | 3 | Christian, mainly Maronite |
| Glory Movement | Harakat Majd | 2 | Sunni Muslim |
| Armenian Revolutionary Federation | Tashnag | 2 | Secular Armenian |
| Syrian Social Nationalist Party | al-Hizb as-Suri al-Qawmi al-Ijtima'i | 2 | Secular with support across all communities |
| Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party | Hizb al-Ba'th al-Arabi al-Ishtiraki | 2 | Secular |
| Solidarity Party | Hizb at-Tadamoun | 1 | Maronite Christian |
| Skaff Bloc | Kutlat Skaff | 0 | Secular, mainly Greek Catholic |
| Popular Nasserite Organization | at-Tanzim ash-Sha’bi al-Nasiri | 0 | Secular, mainly Sunni Muslim |
| Arab Democratic Party | al-Hizb ad-Dimuqrati al-Arabi | 0 | Alawi Muslims |
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