BEIRUT - With just two weeks left before the president has to step down, Lebanon's parliament speaker postponed presidential elections for the third time Saturday to give the deadlocked rival factions more time to come up with a compromise candidate.
The 128-seat parliament, dominated by anti-Syrian legislators, had been scheduled to meet Monday for another attempt to choose a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, who steps down Nov. 24.
A September session failed to reach quorum because of an opposition boycott, and an October attempt was postponed as negotiators struggled to find a compromise candidate.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in a statement issued by the parliament's secretariat general, said he decided to postpone the election until Nov. 21 "to give more time for consultations to reach agreement on a president.''
The decision comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by foreign officials here, reflecting mounting concerns that failure to elect a president could lead to a power vacuum, or possibly the creation of two rival governments.
On Friday, the French president's chief of staff Claude Gueant said following talks with government and opposition leaders in Beirut that his country "supports a consensus'' among the Lebanese on the country's next president.
He urged the Lebanese to elect a new president on time and according to the constitution, "in such a way to preserve Lebanon's sovereignty and independence.''
The renewed French efforts follow a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S. President George W. Bush at a Washington summit this week. Bush said he was comfortable with France's attempt to break the Lebanese deadlock through direct talks with Syria.
The French and Italian foreign ministers, who visited Lebanon with their Spanish counterpart last month, are expected in Beirut early next week to continue efforts on the presidential election.
The announcement followed a meeting last night between Berri, who is aligned with the Syria-backed, Hezbollah-led opposition, and legislator Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority in Lebanon.
The two issued a joint statement Saturday urging Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, head of the influential Maronite Catholic Church, to bring together Maronite leaders with the aim of coming up with a list of names of compromise candidates.
"We strongly support such an initiative so that we can all choose a compromise candidate from that list,'' the statement said.
Under Lebanon's political system, the president should be a Maronite. The church fears a power vacuum could threaten the Maronites' hold on the post.
The election has become a showdown between Iran and Syria who back the opposition, and the United States and its European allies, who support the parliamentary majority and Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's government.
