The Resigned member of the Lebanese Parliament and President of the Independence Movement, Michel Moawad, said, “the era of threatening behavior against the free Lebanese has passed, and it has no place after the Syrian withdrawal of 2005 or after October 17th, 2019.”

In a Facebook post responding to Marada leader Sleiman Frangie’s statements, he added: “one who rejects federalism- regardless of the controversy between those who support and reject it- cannot speak the language of “our areas and their areas,” which had been made untenable by the election results in the first place.”

He concluded by saying: “More importantly, freedom of political association for all Lebanese in Zgharta Zawie and of Lebanon’s regions cannot be compromised, no matter what the price.”