A session of parliament due on Tuesday to elect Lebanon's next president is expected to be postponed, analysts said on Sunday, after an EU diplomatic mission failed to break a political deadlock.
The foreign ministers of France, Italy and Spain met the leaders of rival Lebanese factions in Beirut on Saturday, but attempts to put a positive spin on the outcome of the talks left Lebanon's leading newspapers cold.
"We came out of our meeting with the political leaders with the feeling that things are getting better, it seems to us that there is some movement forward," France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters. Kouchner, Italy's Massimo D'Alema and Spain's Miguel Angel Moratinos held talks with the anti-Syrian, pro-government camp and the opposition led by the militant Hezbollah group, which is backed by both Syria and Iran.
But an editorial in the independent daily Al-Anwar was sceptical that any breakthrough had been achieved.
"The three ministers don't have Alexander the Great's sword to cut through Lebanon's Gordian knot," it said. "This was a very laudable visit, but it's not enough to pave the way to the restoration of normal politics in Lebanon," wrote the An-Nahar daily, which is close to the Western-backed majority.
Opposition daily Al-Diyar said "the three ministers' message cannot push the political machine towards an agreement because there are multiple factors to the political crisis, which depend on regional issues."
The visit came as parliament prepares to convene on Tuesday to pick a successor to the current pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud, whose term ends on November 24.
But analysts and politicians told AFP at the weekend that the session is likely to be postponed because of a lack of progress in talks between the rival factions.
"Nothing will take place on Tuesday simply because we want to give negotiations a chance," Henri Helou, a deputy from the pro-Western ruling coalition, said. "We have to wait a bit, but for sure there will be no session on Tuesday."
The ruling coalition has put forward two names for the presidency but the opposition is insisting on a candidate from outside that camp.
Observers believe the election will go down to the wire, with lawmakers from both sides striking a deal only in the final 10 days of Lahoud's mandate, when parliament will be in permanent session.
Constitutional expert Ziad Baroud told AFP both sides in the stand-off were on "an equal footing, and this reinforces the chances of them reaching agreement as no one side is stronger than the other."
He said opposition leader Nabih Berri, who is also the parliament speaker, would probably "postpone the session until November the 6th or 7th."
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's government has been paralysed since last November when opposition forces, which include Iran- and Syria-backed factions, withdrew their six ministers from government in a bid to gain more representation in government.
Fears are running high that the stand-off over the presidency could lead to two rival governments, a grim reminder of the end of the 1975-1990 civil war when two competing administrations battled it out.
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