Parliament speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday postponed Lebanon's presidential election for a third time to allow rival political leaders a final chance to resolve a months-old deadlock.
His office said the election which is held among members of parliament was postponed to Nov. 21, just three days before the term of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, runs out.
Later another statement said Berri, a member of the opposition, and parliament majority leader Saad Hariri have asked the head of the Maronite Church, Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, "to gather key Maronite leaders in order to draw up a list of consensus candidates."
Lebanon's president must be a Maronite Christian by convention.
Antoine Nasrallah, spokesman for Michel Aoun, the only declared candidate representing the Hezbollah-led opposition, said the decision to allow more time was taken in agreement with Hariri.
"It was expected, because up until now we have no consensus on a candidate and hopefully there will be one by the 21st," he said.
The office of the speaker, who is in the opposition camp, said that Berri "decided to postpone the session scheduled for next Monday, to Wednesday November 21."
It was the third postponement of the election since Sept. 25 amid deadlock on a consensus candidate between parliament's pro-Western majority bloc and the opposition, which includes factions backed by Syria and Iran.
On a positive note, Member of Parliament Mohammed Haidar of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah said: "In the last couple of days, things have appeared more optimistic than during the last week.
"And what makes us more optimistic are efforts by regional and international players to avoid the country plunging into chaos," he said.
But fears are running high that the row could lead to two rival governments and a return to the final years of the 1975-1990 civil war when two competing administrations battled for control.
Politicians have said that despite intense pressure by foreign powers, particularly France and the US, to break the current impasse, there was no indication the two sides were any closer to a compromise.
Both French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his Italian counterpart Massimo d'Alema, part of a troika of EU ministers to visit the country last month, are due to return to Beirut this week to try to mediate a solution.
The current government has been paralyzed since the opposition withdrew its six ministers from the Cabinet last November in a bid to gain more representation in government.
Boutros Harb, a candidate backed by the ruling majority, said Berri appeared to have opted for the latest delay to avoid constitutional chaos and a full-blown confrontation between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps.
"I think the new delay represents yet another reprieve so as to allow for an agreement to be struck," he said. "We are going to do our utmost to reach an accord, a compromise deal."
Parliament will be in permanent session during the last 10 days of Lahoud's mandate and the majority, with 68 members in the 127-seat house, has threatened to go ahead on its own with a vote if no consensus candidate is found.
A two-thirds majority is required for a candidate to be elected by parliament in a first round of voting. In the event of a second round, a simple majority suffices.
The latest postponement takes the process to the 11th hour and comes on the 1,000th day since the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri which threw Lebanon into turmoil and has yet to be solved despite a UN probe.
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