The Democratic Left Movement (DLM, Harakat Al-Yassar Al-Dimuqratiy, Arabic acronym HYD) is a nonsectarian and a democratic leftist political party. It was founded in September 2004 by left-wing and center-left intellectuals and activists some of whom had previously split from the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) while some were student activists from the "Independent Leftist Groups". The DLM affirms a European-style social democracy—but is open to all forms of leftism and encourages the development of a true secular state. The party operates under a decentralized framework that emphasizes diversity of thought for a progressive society in a liberal democratic environment. It participated in the 2005 Cedar Revolution, a wave of demonstrations against the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and calls for correcting imbalanced relations with Syria. The DLM won its first parliamentary seat in Lebanon's 2005 elections representing the Tripoli district. On 2 June 2005, amid election rounds, Samir Kassir, a founder of the movement, was assassinated in a car bombing. Less than one month later, George Hawi, a former secretary general of the Lebanese Communist Party and an ally of the DLM, was killed in a similar car bombing in Beirut. In the 2009 elections, the party again won a single seat, instead representing the West Bekaa district. It is a member of the March 14 Alliance parliamentary coalition. History Background and foundation During the late 1990s, there was a growing number of intellectuals (Samir Kassir, Ziad Majed, Elias Khoury) and a network of independent student groups ("Independent Leftist Groups") who advocated democracy, individual liberties, secularism and center-left economic policies in Lebanon. On the other hand, a growing number Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) members were dissatisfied with the status of their party: the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the failure of the LCP to assume a more democratic socialist platform ushered in an era of political decline for the party. This, coupled with perceived Syrian domination of its leadership, led to increasing frustration among rank-and-file communists against the upper echelons of the party. On 13 September 2000, a group calling itself "the reform and democracy forces in the Lebanese Communist Party" wrote an open letter demanding the resignation of party leadership. Led by Elias Atallah, the dissidents accused LCP leaders of subservience to Syria and called for full democratization of the party and abandonment of the Stalinist line. Atallah was expelled from the party on