Officials see more delay in electing Lebanon president

 

A 12th parliamentary session to elect Lebanon”s president appears doomed to more delay with rival politicians unable to strike a deal despite Arab League efforts to push through a compromise, officials said on Friday.
 
“Everything indicates that tomorrow”s (Saturday”s) session will meet the same fate as the 11 previous ones and be postponed,” Elias Atallah, a deputy with the ruling Western-backed majority, told AFP.

 

Atallah said it was clear that the Hezbollah-led opposition was intent on blocking a deal brokered by the league to end the long-running presidential crisis.

 

Lebanon has been without a president since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down on November 23 with no elected successor because of bitter rivalry between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps.

 

Although Arab League chief Amr Mussa has been in Beirut since Wednesday for marathon talks between the various political and religious leaders to end the crisis, his mission has so far shown no indication of success.

 

The Arab initiative is based on a three-point plan that calls for the election of army chief General Michel Sleiman as president, the formation of a national unity government in which no one party has veto power and the adoption of a new electoral law.

 

Although the ruling coalition has given the plan its full backing, the Shiite militant group Hezbollah is insisting that the opposition be granted a third of the seats in a new government so as to have veto power over key decisions.

 

An official close to opposition leader and parliament speaker Nabih Berri said that in light of the continued standoff over the presidency, it was unlikely Saturday”s vote would take place.

 

“You need a full basket for a deal and that”s not the case here,” said the official who requested anonymity. “The only part of the Arab proposal that all parties agree on is the election of Sleiman.”

 

Hezbollah MP Ali Hassan Khalil would not comment on Saturday”s session saying only that everything hinged on the outcome of Mussa”s visit.

 

The political crisis that has paralysed the country began in November 2006 after the opposition pulled its six ministers from the cabinet of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora in a bid to gain more representation.