By Xinhua,
Beirut : Lebanese press on Tuesday forecasted no breakthrough in the election crisis as the parliament is scheduled to meet on noon for a 18th attempt toelect a new president.
The ruling majority coalition was waiting for Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to postpone the session again, and was preparing to blame him for closing the parliament, the daily said. But Berri decided to open the parliament doors this time to avoid accusations of obstruction, and let the MPs decide on reaching a quorum to elect a president or not. MPs from the ruling coalition and opposition are expected to go to Parliament at 12:00 noon (1000 GMT) Tuesday. As-Safir daily forecasted that MPs from the ruling coalition will go inside the parliament, while the opposition MPs will stay in parliament halls.
Berri did not announce postponing parliamentary session as he did 17 times before, but it is clear that there will be no presidential elections since a political breakthrough was not reached, local Al-Akhbar daily reported Tuesday. Lebanon is facing the most complicated political crisis since1975-1990 civil war, with political rival groups unable to achieve a breakthrough to elect a new president for the country, which has been without a president since Nov. 24 when ex-President Lahoudended his term.
The presidency deadlock deepened the Lebanese political crisis as fears are mounting that failure in reaching a deal on the presidential candidate could result in more violence in the country.