BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Political defections and a shifting regional landscape suggest the ruling March 14 coalition in Lebanon needs to transform to lead effectively, analysts say.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri led his March 14 alliance to power in June parliamentary elections. The August defection by Walid Jumblatt, the fiery leader of the Progressive Socialist Party and March 14 co-founder, left Cabinet deliberations in turmoil, however.
Meanwhile, moves by Damascus to restore its tarnished image in the region have made parts of the anti-Syrian platform of the March 14 slate irrelevant.
Paul Salem, a Lebanese expert at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, tells the English-language Daily Star newspaper that March 14 is in the midst of a political transformation.
"Structurally it's in crisis, but it's not dead," he said. "March 14 was a sort of a national rebellion. It was a sovereignty intifada. Now it's a governing coalition."
Salem warns that the power of the March 14 coalition could diminish as lawmakers wrestle with drafting a national platform for the new government.
Meanwhile, officials are at odds over the weapons of Shiite resistance movement Hezbollah, which gained modest political influence with the March 8 opposition slate in June.
While March 14 gained power with the majority of seats in the new government, its weakened agenda could spell trouble for a coalition government, analysts warn.
