Amine Gemayel
On August 5, 2007, a by-election took place in the Metn district, to replace the slain anti-Syrian minister Pierre Gemayel, the ARF decided to support Camille Khoury, the candidate backed by opposition leader Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement. Camille Khoury faced off against Phalangist leader Amine Gemayel and subsequently won the seat. Government supporters blamed Gemayel's loss on the Armenians. Amine Gemayel accused the ARF of cheating and called for the ballot in Bourj Hammoud to be cancelled. Gemayel said that he had fared better "among Christians" and accused the Dashnaktsutyun of trying to "impose its will on the people of Metn". Lebanese politician Gabriel Murr accused the ARF of rigging the vote as "they always do". Murr pointed out that Aoun didn't win the Maronite vote but that he had won the Armenian vote, which was included in the Metn district to manipulate the electoral results. Hagop Pakradounian, a leader of the ARF in Lebanon, and the Armenian Deputies Bloc asked for a public apology. Pakradounian and the Armenian Deputies Bloc condemned comments made by Amine Gemayel and Gabriel Murr over the Armenian community's support for the Free Patriotic Movement.