MP Robert Fadel during press conference resigns as MP

In Tripoli Lebanon municipal elections preliminary results indicated that none of the 24 seats on the
council were won by members of the Christian or Alawite communities
which were both represented in the outgoing council. One analyst described the result as a sign of growing hardline
sentiment in the mostly Sunni city that is a historic bastion of Sunni
Islamist groups.

daily star.com.lb Tripoli MP Robert Fadel unexpectedly announced his resignation Monday,
hours after unofficial results from the city’s local elections held one
day earlier showed that probably no Christians will be represented in
the new municipal council. Fadel, an independent March 14 figure,
had backed the coalition list that took only six seats against the 18
captured by the ticket supported by resigned Justice Minister Ashraf
Rifi. In a news conference earlier in the day, Rifi had vowed to
preserve Tripoli’s coexistence, despite his list falling short of a
sufficient Christian and Alawite representation.

The current municipal council has three Christians. Fadel had proposed a draft law to alleviate the condition of 300,000 Lebanese living in extreme poverty.

Rifi is a former police chief who resigned as justice minister this
year in protest at what he described as the dominant role occupied by
Hezbollah, a heavily armed Shi’ite group backed by Iran.

Analysts say he was seeking to stake out a position as an uncompromising Sunni rival to Hariri by quitting the government.

Rifi, who comes from Tripoli, has heaped criticism on Hariri, son of
the late statesman Rafik al-Hariri, for nominating a Hezbollah ally to
fill the vacant presidency.

Speaking at a televised news conference on Monday, Rifi said Hariri’s
decision to back Maronite politician Suleiman Franjieh for that post
had been unacceptable to his constituents in northern Lebanon.

Rifi said his Sunni rivals had failed to grasp a shifting mood in the
region as Sunni power Saudi Arabia takes a tougher position against
Shi’ite Iran. They had also failed to grasp the weakness of the Syrian
government, he said.

Both Tehran and Damascus are allies of Hezbollah. “Nobody knew that
the Sunni mood in Lebanon would no longer accept surrender or
complacency. It wants its right as citizens,” Rifi told Reuters.

He also called for coexistence in the city, adding that his list
included Christian and Alawite candidates who had not appeared to win
though the counting was not over.

The turnout appeared low, with initial indications of just over a
fifth of voters taking part, according to activists working with the
campaigns. Estimates for the number of seats won by Rifi’s list ranged
from 16 to 22.

Tripoli has been a focal point of instability linked to the Syria
conflict since it began in 2011. Sunni Islamists waged an armed
insurrection with the army in Tripoli in 2014, and fighting has also
erupted in the city between members of the Sunni and Alawite
communities. The last major violence was a suicide bomb attack in
January, 2015.

Nabil Boumonsef, a political commentator with An-Nahar newspaper,
said: “It is certain that Ashraf Rifi won under the slogan of extremism.
The interesting thing is that a democratic process has resulted in the
new slogan of extremism in Tripoli.” He said the absence of any
Christians or Alawites on the council would be “very negative.”

Writing on Twitter, Hariri called for cooperation for the sake of
Tripoli. “We confirm respect for the democratic will of the people of
Tripoli who have picked their new municipal council,” he said.