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Hezbollah said on Friday a proposal by President George W. Bush for Lebanon's Western-backed governing coalition to elect a new president unilaterally was a threat to the country's stability. Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah told Reuters that Bush's comments on Thursday had further complicated efforts to forge a deal between the governing coalition and the Syria-backed opposition, which have been locked in a power struggle for more than a year.Parliament is due to convene on Saturday in the 10th attempt at electing a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, whose term expired on November 23.
The nine previous sessions have failed because a two-thirds quorum in parliament can only be secured by an agreement between the governing coalition and the opposition, led by Hezbollah. The rivals have agreed on army chief General Michel Suleiman as the next head of state but have not been able to conclude a broader deal on how to share power in a new cabinet.