Both parties have been pushed towards their respective extremes, but oneparty must rule and so the effects on the Republicans, as the minority party, have been worse.
"From the birth of the Lebanese state, Tripoli has resisted being a part of Lebanon, " said Ahmad al QasQas, a media representative for the Lebanese chapter of Hizb al-Tahrir, a pan-Arab Islamist party with aspirations for one nation spanning the region under the rule of an emir.
This is due to a rule that states if a club in Germany receives major financial backing from oneparty for over 20 years, that party can then take a controlling stake in the club.