Lebanon's parliament session scheduled for Friday was postponed Thursday after rival leaders failed to reach consensus to elect a president for the country, a Lebanese government source said, according to dpa. "The session will be postponed and it will be announced soon by parliament speaker Nabih Berri," the source said. Parliament was due to convene to pick a successor to President Emile Lahoud at 13h00 pm (1500GMT) Friday, only 11 hours before his term ends. Four previous attempts have failed amid a power struggle between the government of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora, backed by the United States and the opposition led by Hezbollah, an ally of Syria and Iran. The ruling coalition, which has 68 deputies in the 127-member parliament, had previously vowed to proceed with a simple majority vote but that option now appears unlikely for fear it could spark unrest, according to political officials. The opposition has threatened to set up a parallel government, a grim reminder of the end of the 1975-1990 civil war when two administrations battled it out. Meanwhile, Christian opposition leader General Michel Aoun, a close ally of Hezbollah withdrew his candidacy and proposed that his parliamentary bloc name an interim president for two years and that the ruling majority appoint a prime minister to end the current political crisis in the country. 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.
