By Xinhua
Beirut : A parliamentary session set for Wednesday to elect Lebanon’s new president may probably be postponed till Friday, or Nov. 23, for the 4th time, local daily An Nahar reported on Tuesday.
The Wednesday parliamentary session will “almost certainly” be postponed till Friday, the day current President Emile Lahoud’s term runs out, said the daily.
Just one day earlier, Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir also warned that if the country’s feuding political factions were not willing to make compromise, the presidential elections will be “very difficult”, adding he cannot “foretell” whether elections will take place or not.
“Backstage channels” were exerting parallel efforts to get guarantees from the political groups that no unrest would occur in the event that election failed to take place, said the report.
Lebanese army troops and police are already on high alert to prevent any chaos, it added.
After three times of postponement, Lebanese parliament is due to convene on Wednesday to elect a new president to succeed Lahoud, but anti-Syrian March 14 majority coalition and pro-Syrian opposition are still at odds on a consensus nominee.
Under Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing pact, the presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian.
Many fear that failure in reaching a deal on the presidential candidate could result in a power vacuum in the country or a split with two rival governments standing against one another.