By Xinhua,
Beirut : Lebanese majority leader Saad Hariri called again for presidential election on May 13, local Al-Mustaqbal daily reported Wednesday.
“It is the duty of each MP (members of parliament) in political blocks who claim they agree on electing consensus candidate Michel Suleiman (as president) to go to parliament on May 13, and vote for him,” Hariri was quoted as saying after meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Seniora on Tuesday night.
Hariri said he favors dialogue with opposition on condition a president is elected on May 13.
He said he was waiting for a response from the Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri for a bilateral meeting to discuss dialogue subjects and guarantee presidential elections. Berri, who is also an opposition leader, has called for national dialogue among rival blocs to settle the current political crisis.
The ruling coalition previously rejected Berri’s dialogue initiative and refused to open dialogue before electing a new president.
Lebanon is facing the most complicated political crisis since1975-1990 civil war. Lebanese political rival groups were unableto achieve a breakthrough to elect a new president for the country, which has been without a president since Nov. 24 when ex-president Lahoud ended his term.
Lebanese leaders agreed on Suleiman as a consensus candidate, but could not agree on the shape of the new government or the new election law.
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.