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Lebanon has numerous political parties, usually with sectarian character. Since 2005, and after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, the political scene has become very polarized, with most major political parties and movements becoming part of one of two big rival alliances, the March 8 Alliance and the March 14 Alliance. However, there are also a number of independent Lebanese politicians who are not specifically part of any of the two, but considered "independent" (a third force) loosely allied as a group to supporting the incumbent Lebanese President at the time, Michel Suleiman, though now there are no clear indications of an autonomous movement other than an informal street activism since the summer of 2015. There are also some other independent groups that have not allied with any of the sectarian figures and are informally organised or linked to environmental activism and anti-corruption protest movements.
Parties
Although almost every party is strongly dominated by a particular faith community, it should be noted that most nonetheless maintain that they are secular.