Lebanon delays president vote, tightens security

 

Deeply divided Lebanese leaders postponed a presidential election until Friday to allow more time to agree a successor to the pro-Syrian incumbent, whose term expires that day.
 
The delay intensifies a political crisis that could result in two rival administrations and violence in a country still rebuilding from its 1975-1990 civil war. The army boosted security on Tuesday and warned against internal strife.

 

Parliament had been due to convene on Wednesday to elect the successor to President Emile Lahoud but a senior political source told Reuters the vote would be delayed, the fourth postponement since September.

A French government spokeswoman confirmed the postponement.

 

“They cannot reach agreement. Discussions are continuing,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani said in Paris.

 

Paris has been leading mediation efforts to push the rival leaders towards a deal on the presidency, the latest front in a year-long power struggle between factions opposed to Syrian influence in Lebanon and others supported by Damascus.

 

Hundreds of soldiers manned roadblocks and deployed armored vehicles around government buildings in Beirut, a senior security source said. “The army has started security arrangements,” he said.

 

Army chief General Michel Suleiman said: “Any attack on security is national treason and any weapon directed internally is a treacherous weapon.”

 

The army should pay no attention to arguments “which have almost split the country into scattered parts,” Suleiman said in a statement to soldiers to mark Independence Day, which falls on Thursday.

 

The army is one of the few state institutions that has continued to function effectively during the political conflict between the Western-backed governing coalition and the opposition led by Hezbollah and backed by Syria and Iran.

 

Picture: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner (L) gestures to Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa (R) and Lebanon”s Prime Minister Fuad Siniora during their meeting in Beirut. Lebanon”s presidential election was postponed for a fourth time amid last-ditch efforts for political rivals to strike a deal by a Friday deadline to replace the current head of state.(AFP/Joseph Barrak)