Lebanon delays presidential vote after talks fail

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa (R) meets with Lebanese rival leaders, former president Amin Gemayel (L), parliament majority leader Saad al-Hariri (2nd R) and Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun (2nd L) in the parliament headquarters in Beirut February 25, 2008.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon postponed its presidential election to March 11 from February 26 on Monday, the 15th such delay, after rival leaders failed to reach a deal to end the country's political conflict.

The deadlock has threatened to degenerate into sectarian violence and continues to poison inter-Arab relations in the run-up to next month's Arab summit in Syria.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced the delay of a parliamentary vote expected to confirm army chief General Michel Suleiman as president after two days of talks in Beirut by Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.

"In line with the Arab League initiative and to give efforts of its secretary general more chances to achieve consensus among the Lebanese, the (election) session has been postponed," Berri said in a statement.

Moussa said more time was needed to reach a deal between the rival camps, whose conflict has paralyzed much of government for 15 months and left the country without a president since November.

"I had hoped that we would end with a comprehensive paper, or a comprehensive draft deal," Moussa said.

"But it appears that the matter needs more time," he told reporters after chairing a meeting between governing coalition leaders Saad al-Hariri and Amin Gemayel, and Michel Aoun, who represented the opposition.

The rival camps have agreed on Suleiman as the next head of state but are still at odds over how to share seats in a new cabinet which would take office once he is elected.

The crisis threatens to undermine the Arab summit scheduled for March 29-30 in Damascus. Hariri and his allies blame Syria for the crisis.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and other Arab leaders who support the governing coalition are unlikely to attend the summit unless the Lebanon conflict is resolved, diplomats and analysts say.

Moussa, a former Egyptian foreign minister, said he hoped Suleiman would be elected before the summit.

"It is not impossible," he said.

The vote cannot take place unless the rival camps reach a deal that would ensure a quorum of lawmakers in the chamber.

The political deadlock has often spilled into bloody sectarian street confrontations over the past 13 months. Many fear an explosion of sectarian violence if the country's worst crisis since the 1975-90 civil war is not resolved soon.

(Additional reporting by Laila Bassam; Editing by Nadim Ladki and Jon Boyle)