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Lebanon vote delayed 13th time
20/01/2008 16:37 - (SA)
Beirut - Lebanon's presidential election
was postponed from Monday to February 11, the parliament speaker
said on Sunday, announcing the 13th delay of a vote blocked by
the country's political crisis.
Rival Lebanese leaders have agreed on army chief General
Michel Suleiman as the candidate to fill the presidency, which
has been vacant since November 23 when the term of pro-Syrian
President Emile Lahoud expired.
But Suleiman's confirmation by the election in parliament
has been held up because the anti-Syrian governing coalition and
its Damascus-backed opponents are at odds over the make-up of a
government that will take office after the vote.
Berri said in a statement that the delay was to give more
time for talks as part of an Arab initiative to end the worst
political crisis since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. 'Closed door'
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said: "The Arab
initiative has not hit a wall. Rather, perhaps it has reached a
closed door that can be opened."
Speaking after talks with Berri, Moussa said that time was
"short so we must move quickly towards consensus and an
election", adding that "the matter requires a lot of work". He
said he would leave Beirut on Sunday.
The opposition, led by Hezbollah, has threatened civil
disobedience if the political conflict is not resolved,
increasing the risk of violence if there is no end to a stand-off
that began in November, 2006. Sectarian violence
The crisis has also stoked sectarian tensions between Sunni
Muslims loyal to governing coalition leader Saad al-Hariri and
Shi'ite Muslims who back Hezbollah.
The Arab initiative was agreed by states including Syria and
Saudi Arabia, whose own rivalry has complicated the search for
an end to Lebanon's crisis. Saudi Arabia is one of the foreign
backers of the governing coalition.
The Arab plan calls for the election of Suleiman as president,
the formation of a national unity government and the drafting of
a new law for a parliamentary election due in 2009.
The opposition wants veto power in the new cabinet or an
equal three-way division of the seats with the governing
coalition and the president. The governing coalition, whose
foreign backers also include the United States, has rejected the
idea of giving the opposition veto power.
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