Lebanon will have to wait even longer for a new president after a vote by legislators, scheduled for Monday, was postponed for the ninth time when the Syrian-backed opposition camp staged a boycott.
The election has been rescheduled for Dec. 22, according to a statement issued by parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri. The post has been vacant since Nov. 23, when former pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud left office without an elected successor.
At the root of this impasse, rival factions are quarrelling over how to share power once the new president is installed.
The U.S.-backed governing coalition and the opposition led by the militant Hezbollah group have already agreed that army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman will take the top spot.
However, the opposing sides have yet to pass a constitutional amendment to allow the head of the military to become president. To do so, at least two-thirds of the legislators must be present. The majority party has just 68 members, and needs support from some opposition parties to meet the quorum.
But before that vote happens, players on both sides have demands they want satisfied before they head to parliament for the presidential vote.
A sticking point among those requests is an opposition demand that a power-sharing agreement be hammered out before the vote, which would outline how much power each party would be allotted in the next cabinet.
The two sides have held direct talks to deal with this standoff, which has existed for a year. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has acted as mediator and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has intervened, yet the opposing parties continue to be at a deadlock.
With files from the Associated PressRelated
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