Lebanon bid to elect president fails again

 Lebanon's parliament failed Wednesday to elect a president, for asecond time in a week, raising fears the post will remain vacant amid tensions overneighbouring war-torn Syria.Damascus ally the Hezbollah bloc refused to attend Wednesday's session, ensuringparliament was left without the quorum needed to vote for a successor toincumbent President Michel Sleiman.Parliament speaker "Nabih Berri has set ... May 7 as a new date to hold aparliamentary session, given the lack of quorum on Wednesday", the officialNational News Agency reported.Deputies are faced with a choice between Samir Geagea, a fierce opponent of theSyrian government and its ally Hezbollah, and Michel Aoun, who is backed by theLebanese Shiite movement.The animosity between the pair dates back to the civil war that ravaged Lebanonfrom 1975 to 1990.Sleiman's term expires on May 25 and the parliament has until then to elect hissuccessor. But if it fails to do so, the government will assume all executive powers, ascenario Lebanon endured between 1988 and 2007.Over the years, the choice of president in Lebanon has been dictated by foreignpowers, particularly Syria, which dominated the Mediterranean country for nearly three decades.Despite the withdrawal of its troops from Lebanon in 2005 and its own three-yearconflict, Syria still has a say in Lebanon, largely through Hezbollah, whose forceshave been fighting alongside those of the Damascus regime.Hezbollah's arsenal and its involvement in the Syrian war are the main bones ofcontention between Lebanon's rival political camps supported by Damascus andTehran on one side and Washington and Riyadh on the other.Analysts say that this lack of consensus between the factions and their foreignsponsors is likely to leave Lebanon without a president beyond May 25- 'Not a burning issue' -"I am inclined to assume that we will not have presidential elections by the end of...the constitutional period" because the Hezbollah camp cannot accept Geagea and itsMarch 14 rivals cannot accept Aoun, said Hilal Khashan, political science professorat the American University of Beirut."Lebanon does not feature prominently neither for Saudi Arabia nor for Iran rightnow," said Khashan. "Even the US is not even interested in Lebanon, but in otherissues in the region."The presidency is by tradition reserved for a candidate from the Christian Maronitecommunity, in a multi-confessional system unique in the Arab world.But the post is largely ceremonial, and Khashan said it is thus not a "burning issue"for Riyadh and Tehran, already opposed to  each other over Syria, Yemen and Iran'snuclear programme.Parliament's failure to reach consensus reflects the radical disagreement betweenLebanon's pro- and anti-Damascus camps.Fiercely anti-Syria figure Geagea, Lebanon's only civil war warlord to have beenjailed at the end of the bloody conflict, defends his candidacy by saying he hassought forgiveness for his past "mistakes".His rival Aoun, an ex-army chief, fought against Geagea's Lebanese Forces and alsolaunched a "war of liberation" against Syria, before going into exile in France.Aoun returned to Lebanon in 2005 but his stance towards Damascus changedradically and he became a key ally of Syria backer Hezbollah.But as with the civil war, it may well be that neither man will emerge victorious fromtheir latest, political battle for the presidency."Eventually, the Iranians and the Saudis are bound to reach a regional settlement,but it will take time," analyst Khashan said, implying a consensus figure couldeventually emerge.