Word: lahoud
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...Lebanon has been without a President since November 23, when Emile Lahoud stepped down. General Michel Suleiman, the commander of the Lebanese army, has been selected as a consensus candidate agreeable to the anti-Syrian March 14 parliamentary majority as well as the pro-Syrian opposition. But his election has become mired in squabbles over the process of amending the constitution to allow Suleiman to move directly into the presidential palace, forgoing the customary two-year cooling-off period for senior civil servants. The election has been rescheduled for December 17, although analysts suspect that the presidential vacuum could continue...
...slim majority in the Lebanese parliament, revealed that it would back the presidential nomination of General Michel Suleiman, the commander of the Lebanese army - a candidacy that it had previously opposed. The Lebanese presidency has been vacant since November 23 when parliament failed to elect a successor to Emile Lahoud, the pro-Syrian head of state whose term ended the same day. The recent decision by March 14 to opt for Suleiman - who is seen as having close ties to the militant Shi'ite Hizballah, which spearheads the pro-Syrian opposition to the Western-backed government in Beirut - apparently caught...
Lebanon has entered a perilous and unprecedented constitutional vacuum following the departure midnight Friday of the pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, with no elected successor. The two rival factions - the Western-backed March 14 block, which holds a thin parliamentary majority, and the pro-Syrian opposition, spearheaded by the militant Shi'ite Hizballah - are locked in a tense standoff, both waiting for the other to make the first move...
...long-simmering crisis peaked Friday when parliamentarians failed to elect a new head of state to replace Lahoud due to a lack of the required quorum. Despite weeks of back-room negotiations and intense international mediation, the feuding politicians have been unable to find a suitable successor acceptable to both sides. Parliament is scheduled to convene again on November 30 for another attempt at electing a president...
With a vacuum looming, Lahoud, in a final act as president, charged the army with enforcing law and order, claiming that "risks of a state of emergency" prevailed over Lebanon. Lahoud, like the opposition, has refused to recognize the legitimacy of government since all five Shi'ite ministers walked out of the cabinet a year ago. But the office of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora swiftly responded by saying that Lahoud's move was unconstitutional and that the army would continue to follow the instructions of the government. So far, the leaders of both factions appear unwilling to risk further escalation...