Last update - 00:00 23/12/2007
Lebanon's opposition threatens to boycott presidential vote
By The Associated Press
Lebanon's Syria-backed opposition threatened Sunday to boycott next week's parliament session to elect a new president unless the ruling coalition agrees to the shape of a future government ahead of the vote.
The threat is likely to scuttle the presidential vote for the 11th time because the Western-backed majority has rejected the opposition's conditions, saying the shape of the next government could be discussed only after the presidential vote.
The opposition will participate in the presidential vote now scheduled for December 29, only in the framework of a clear and integrated political agreement as part of a full package with clear guarantees, said Hussein al-Haj Hassan a legislator from the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which leads the opposition.
Absent this agreement, the opposition will not go to the voting session next Saturday and will not facilitate the election process, said Hassan in the statement.
The post has been empty since pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's term ended November 23, plunging the country into the worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-90 Civil War.