(AKI) - Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri said on Friday that the parliamentary vote for the next president has been postponed till 30 November after Lebanese MPs failed to convene to elect the new president on Friday. The pro-Syrian opposition boycotted the parliamentary session denying the 128-seat chamber the two-thirds quorum needed to carry out the vote. The term of the incumbent pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, expired at midnight on Friday. Repeated attempts to elect the president over the past two months have failed with the Hezbollah-led opposition and the Western-backed governing coalition failing to agree on a candidate.
Reports say that the the situation in Lebanon is tense with the army deployed in full force and schools closed. According to the Lebanese constitution, if no candidate is elected before Lahoud's mandate expires, his powers are automatically transferred to the anti-Syrian government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. However, Lahoud named army chief General Michel Suleiman as his provisional successor instead.