BEIRUT (AFP) — The Lebanese parliament convenes on Sunday to elect army chief Michel Sleiman as president in a first step towards defusing an often deadly 18-month standoff between feuding political factions.
Lawmakers will gather at 5 pm (1400 GMT) to cast their votes at a much-delayed parliamentary session due to be attended by 200 invited guests including Arab and Western dignitaries.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran -- key players in the long-running standoff between the rival political parties in Lebanon -- were also due to attend, along with counterparts from other countries.
The main challenge for Sleiman, 59, will be to impose himself as a neutral figure and reconcile the Western- and Saudi-backed parliamentary majority and the opposition, which is supported by Iran and Syria.
Bickering between the two camps had left the presidency vacant since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud's term ended in November. Nineteen previous attempts to get lawmakers together to elect a successor failed.
Last Wednesday the rivals finally agreed to elect Sleiman, form a national unity government in which the opposition has veto power and draft a new electoral law for parliamentary elections next year.
The accord brokered by the Arab League in the Qatari capital, Doha, came after 65 people were killed in sectarian battles earlier this month between supporters of the Hezbollah-led opposition and pro-government forces.
It was the deadliest sectarian violence since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war and threatened to ignite an all-out conflict, as Hezbollah staged a spectacular takeover of mainly Sunni Muslim west Beirut.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani was also due to address Lebanon's parliament, while other guests included Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa who helped broker the Doha accord.
The Lebanese expressed hope the election would restore stability to the country. "I have a lot of hope in this election," said Aida Aoun, who planned to follow the vote on television.
In nearly 10 years at the helm of the army, Sleiman managed to stay out of the political storm. But as president he will have to tread a fine line to keep the peace with the same neutrality.
"I cannot save the country on my own," he told local media last week. "This mission requires the efforts of all. Security is not achieved by force but joint political will."
Sleiman has been accused by some of being a supporter of Syria, Lebanon's neighbour and former powerbroker.
After the new head of state is sworn in, the government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora will resign in line with the constitution.
On the eve of the vote Siniora, 64, told AFP he was satisfied with the Doha accord and was ready to step down.
"I am satisfied that this is a deal for which we all gave in for the sake of the country," he said. "I served for three years, and I believe it is somehow time for a change."
Lebanon has been mired in political paralysis since November 2006 when six opposition ministers quit the cabinet in a bid to gain more representation.
A career soldier, Sleiman joined the army in 1967. He was appointed military chief in December 1998. He is married and has three children.
He will be the third commander-in-chief of the armed forces to become president after Fouad Chehab (1958-1964) and Lahoud, who was elected in 1998 but whose term was controversially extended by three years under a Syrian-inspired constitutional amendment in 2004.
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