Lebanese politicians abandoned their second attempt to elect a new president on 30 April after dozens of deputies boycotted a parliamentary vote to choose a successor to President Michel Suleiman. The country’s two main political blocs, the pro-Hezbollah March 8 alliance and its March 14 rivals, have yet to agree on a consensus candidate who could garner majority support among the 128 parliamentary deputies.
The stalemate stems from longstanding political and sectarian divisions deepened by the three-year-old war in neighbouring Syria, and could drag on well beyond the end of Suleiman’s term on 25 May. Shi’ite Muslims support President Bashar al-Assad while Sunni Muslims back the rebels fighting to topple him. Maronite Christians, who are allocated Lebanon’s presidency under the country’s confessional power sharing system, are split.