The joint appeal by 16 groups, including the National Bloc, Beirut Madinati and Mintishreen, marks the most concerted effort yet towards forming an opposition umbrella to take on the ruling elite in parliamentary elections scheduled for May 2022.
"We are calling on all forces of change and the different revolutionary groups... to unify their ranks and work together towards forming the widest possible opposition bloc," spokesperson Nada Sehnaoui said.
"Together, we will develop a joint plan for our participation in parliamentary polls through joint opposition lists," she told a Beirut presser held at the National Bloc's headquarters.
The groups taking part so far have mostly coalesced around a 2019 protest movement demanding the wholesale removal of politicians widely deemed inept and corrupt.
They will run against established parties, many of which have been in power since the 1975-1990 civil war.
The coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...
pandemic and last year's monster explosion at Beirut port that killed more than 200 people drained much of Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...'s revolutionary momentum.
But anger is still rife over an economic crisis that has left more than 50 percent of the population below the poverty line.
The Lebanese pound has lost more than 85 percent of its value against the dollar in a devaluation that has eaten away at salaries and savings.
Consumer prices have skyrocketed and more people now depend on handouts and aid deliveries to survive.
"We don't have time to waste," Sehnaoui said.
"Hunger is stalking the vast majority of our people and the fate of our country is at stake."