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del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 23:57 22/11/2007 Source: Lebanon opposition to skip president election Friday By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press Tags: Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria  Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition will boycott a parliament session on Friday to elect a new head of state in the absence of a deal with the majority on a consensus candidate, a senior opposition source said. The boycott means parliament will lack the two-thirds quorum needed to elect a successor to President Emile Lahoud, whose term expires at midnight on Friday. The anti-Syrian ruling coalition, which holds a small majority in parliament, said earlier that it would attend the session. "We will go to parliament to affirm the constitutional right of electing a president for the republic as a parliamentary majority and to preserve the constitution and [state] institutions that are subjected to extensive breaches," lawmaker Wael Abu Faour told Reuters. Advertisement The leader of Lebanon's Free Shiite movement on Thursday accused Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah of trying to foment Sunni-Shiite violence in the country, Army Radio reported, as rival Lebanese leaders were in last-ditch efforts to find a compromise candidate for the presidency ahead of Friday's constitutional deadline. "It appears that Nasrallah wants to drag the Shiite [population] of the country into a violent confrontation by force," said Mohammed al-Haj Hassan. "The Shiites, headed by Nasrallah, are leading [the country] to a Shiite-Sunni struggle just like in Iraq, at the generosity of Iranian assistance." Parliament is scheduled to convene at 1 P.M. Friday to pick a successor for pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud - only 11 hours before his term ends. Three previous attempts failed because of disagreements between the country's feuding pro- and anti-Syrian politicians over a replacement. Lebanon's Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun proposed on Thursday the election of an interim president named by him as a way out of the country's political deadlock. Failure to elect a new president on time could lead to a power vacuum, or two rival governments, much like during the last two years of the 1975-90 civil war. As the country marked its Independence Day holiday Thursday, a mood of pessimism settled over Lebanese as efforts to find some sort of agreement appeared to evaporate. "The last day before zero-hour: A miracle or power vacuum," read the headline of Lebanon's leading An-Nahar daily. Al-Mustaqbal daily, owned by legislator Sa'ad Hariri who heads the anti-Syrian majority in parliament, accused Syria of blocking a compromise through its Lebanese allies. Hariri and Aoun, who is allied with the pro-Syrian Shiite Muslim Hezbollah and is himself seeking the presidential post, held a rare meeting Wednesday night but failed to break the deadlock. The meeting took place following a telephone call to both leaders by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been leading mediations between the two camps through his foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner. With only few hours left, international mediators were returning to Lebanon for last minute efforts to find a compromise. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos arrived overnight and Massimo D'Alema of Italy was arriving later Thursday to join Kouchner, who has been in Lebanon since Monday. The three European countries are the top contributors to the 13,600-strong United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. The controversial Aoun has kept his name in contention for the presidency as other names touted as compromises have been blocked over recent days. Michel Edde, a former culture and information minister, appeared at one point to be gaining traction but has been reportedly rejected by Hariri's camp as too pro-Syrian. A one-time Hariri ally who has recently taken a more neutral stance, Robert Ghanem, has been rejected by the opposition. Accepting Aoun as president would be a hard pill to swallow for the Hariri camp. Though he was long an opponent of Damascus, Aoun has sided with Hezbollah, an ally of Syria and Tehran, throughout Lebanon's political crisis the past year. The choice of president has been deadlocked amid a power struggle between the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the opposition, led by Hezbollah, an ally of Syria and Iran. Siniora's camp wants to put an anti-Syrian figure in the post to replace Lahoud, a staunch ally of Damascus. Siniora's supporters have a slim majority in parliament, but the opposition has called a boycott of sessions until an acceptable candidate is agreed on. Amid the boycott, a September 25 parliament session failed to muster quorum and three other scheduled sessions have been postponed with no deal reached. The anti-Syrian majority is threatening to elect a president by a simple majority if no quorum is reached, a move that would likely create turmoil and increase the risk of street violence. In the absence of a president, the government takes executive power. But Lahoud has vowed not to hand his authorities over to Saniora's administration, considering it unconstitutional after all five ministers of the Shiite Muslim community quit a year ago. Possible scenarios include Lahoud handing over power to the military chiefs, creating a rival government to hand power to or even declaring a state of emergency - deepening the struggle with Siniora Bookmark to del.icio.us After six decades A Holocaust survivor meets her rescuer for the first time in 62 years. Terror high A group led by U.S. senators seeks closure of a Saudi Islamic school in Virginia.   1.   Conspiracies again: this time Iran fomenting 19:37  |  aspirations 22/11/07   2.   Aoun is a principled guy unlike the slippery signora! 19:55  |  lakshmi 22/11/07   3.   Lakshmi - again a puppet 22:13  |  Shafrir 22/11/07   4.   Lebanon, one day after Independence Day. 23:36  |  sandra chitayat 22/11/07   5.   Syria and Iran OUT 00:34  |  IsraFan 23/11/07   6.   Nazis were principled, too, Lakshmi 00:50  |  IsraFan 23/11/07   7.   Aoun is a chance for peace in the Middle East 01:26  |  Loyal Lebanese 23/11/07   8.   Hezbollah are Iranian and Syrian stooges 01:45  |  Marwan مروان خوري 23/11/07   9.   With Hezbollah there will be no peace or prosperity in Lebanon 03:02  |  Marwan مروان خوري 23/11/07   10.   always outside influence 03:12  |  fadi 23/11/07   11.   Predictions in Lebanon 03:42  |  JUDGE 23/11/07   12.   always outside influence 04:29  |  fadi 23/11/07   13.   IsraFan. You`re an idiot. 07:41  |  Mike 23/11/07   14.   to israfan 07:50  |  . 23/11/07   15.   Marwan 10:42  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 23/11/07   16.   Marwan - Lebanon is different now 10:46  |  Loyal Lebanese 23/11/07   17.   #14 It`s no wonder you don`t give a name 10:48  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 23/11/07   18.   More Reasonable Predictions 10:59  |  Loyal Lebanese 23/11/07   19.   Israfan and Mike - Corrections 11:11  |  Loyal Lebanese 23/11/07   20.   Lebanon needs Real Independence 11:21  |  Loyal Lebanese 23/11/07   21.   Michel Aoun 11:41  |  mazen 23/11/07   22.   Marwan and Margie 12:26  |  Maral 23/11/07   23.   Margie, you are lame 12:31  |  Maral 23/11/07   24.   Poor Maral 13:04  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 23/11/07   25.   Maral & Loyal Lebanese,I concur with your analysis,Aoun,himself 13:25  |  lakshmi 23/11/07   26.   With Heavily Armed Palestinians NO PEACE 17:14  |  Loyal Lebanese 23/11/07   27.   or war 11:08  |  Uzi 24/11/07   28.   To Loyal Lebanese - correction to you my friend 13:09  |  Mike 24/11/07   29.   To Mike - Plz be educated 19:35  |  Loyal Lebanese 25/11/07

Today Online Israel welcomes Syrian participation in Annapolis conference Responses: 99 Gideon Levy: Israel the occupier is making the demands of a thief Responses: 217 Uzi Benziman: Arabs must treat Olmert like Sadat treated Begin Responses: 25 Iranian VP: Iran has produced nuclear fuel to power reactor Responses: 47 Zvi Bar'el: Attendance of Arab FMs is first victory of Annapolis Responses: 44 Rosner's Domain Think of Annapolis as a big party Poll: Can the Israeli-Palestinian status quo be maintained? Annapolis: We can't wait, we have to wait (WTR) Rosner's Guest: the pervasiveness of "groupthink" in the academy More Headlines 16:56 Israel welcomes Syrian participation in Annapolis conference 20:24 Israel to go on high terror alert due to Annapolis peace summit 18:06 U.K. rights group slams Oxford invite to Holocaust denier Irving 15:25 IDF soldiers kill wanted Palestinian militant in Tul Karm 14:32 Minister Ayalon appeals to Shas leader to remain in coalition 20:02 Israel placed in relatively easy World Cup 2010 qualifying group 17:02 Minister Yishai cancels gov't decision to lift price control on bread 15:29 Hezbollah joins Tehran and Hamas in denouncing Annapolis talks 09:53 Tombstone of WWII poet and spy Hannah Szenes arrives in Israel 16:37 Police: Man staged car crash to cover up murder of two wives, daughter Previous Editions Select Day 23 nov 22 nov 21 nov 20 nov 19 nov 18 nov 16 nov 15 nov 14 nov 13 nov 12 nov 11 nov

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