Lebanese presidential election postponed again amid violence
13/5/2008 16:58
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri yesterday postponed a
parliamentary session to elect Lebanon 's president scheduled today till June
10, the official National News Agency reported.
The Parliamentary session for
electing a new president scheduled on May 13 was previously postponed from April
22, the report quoted a statement from Berri as saying.
It is the 19th
postponement since Sept. 25 last year.
The postponement came when Lebanon's
political crisis boiled to deadly clashes between pro and anti-government
supporters, which left at least 72 people dead and about 200 others
injured.
The clashes broke out last Wednesday after the Lebanese cabinet
decided today to cease the private communication network of Hezbollah, and
remove airport security chief Gen. Wafik Shqaier for alleged links to
Hezbollah.
Lebanon is facing the most complicated political crisis since
1975-1990 civil war. Lebanese political rival groups were unable to achieve a
breakthrough to elect a new president for the country since Nov. 24 last year
when ex-president Emile Lahoud ended his term.
Lebanese leaders have agreed
on Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as a consensus candidate, but could not
agree on the shape of the new government or the new election law.
Xinhua
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