sentences:  The party then abstained from participating in the parliamentary elections that were held amid the presence of the Israeli occupation in the south and the Syrian forces in all other Lebanese regions.Following the death of President Raymond Eddé on May 10, 2000, Carlos Eddé was elected as the party's leader.He held on the same approach of his predecessor that backs sovereignty, refusing at first to run in the parliamentary elections while standing up to everything that compromises Lebanon's independence and sovereignty, especially the presence of Syrian forces on its soil, as well as the possession by the Lebanese and Palestinians of any weapons other than the solely legal ones, especially after the liberation of the south.