Beirut sealed off ahead of election

Police and army troops in Lebanon sealed off downtown Beirut today as the parliament tried to meet to elect a new head of state.

The vote was overshadowed by the assassination of a politician and expected to be blocked by the Hezbollah-led opposition.

The security dragnet by several thousand soldiers and policemen was aimed at allowing anti-Syrian lawmakers from the parliamentary majority to move safely from a nearby heavily guarded hotel where they had taken refuge fearing assassination.

Fears of an attack were high after the slaying on Thursday of pro-government lawmaker Antoine Ghanem. It fuelled accusations by government supporters that Syria is targeting members of the ruling coalition, a claim denied by Damascus.

Even without the tensions, the attempt to choose a successor to President Emile Lahoud before he steps down on November 24 is expected to be a struggle between the anti-Syrian government coalition, led by US-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, and the opposition, led by Syria's and Iran's ally Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim militant group.

Despite the tough security measures and attempts at compromise after the assassination, the political differences remained so deep that a vote on a candidate was unlikely today and another session was expected to be called for mid-October.

The ruling coalition is eager to install one of its own to replace the pro-Syrian Lahoud, but the opposition has vowed to prevent that from happening.

Eleven declared or undeclared candidates are running for the post, three of them members of the pro-government camp and one from the opposition.

All 68 legislators from the pro-government majority were going to Parliament today, said lawmaker Fuad Saad, a supporter of the ruling coalition.

But he added the chances of an election today were "very faint", saying the gathering would be turned into one for consultations.

"We are going to show our wish to apply the constitution, elect a president and to reject a (power) vacuum," Saad told the privately owned Voice of Lebanon radio station.

The opposition - with 57 members - was expected to deny the 128-member legislature a two-thirds quorum by having lawmakers stay away from the building or in their offices rather than joining the session in the chamber. Two legislators have declared they were with neither side on the presidential issue.

Opposition-aligned Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will be in his office and was not expected to declare the session open if it lacked a two-thirds quorum, and will call another session.

The local media said Berri was likely to set another session after the Islamic Eid al-Fitr holiday, which ends the holy month of Ramadan in mid-October, to allow both sides to try to reach a compromise.

Berri, after meeting yesterday with Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, the influential spiritual head of the Maronite Catholic minority, expressed optimism a consensus would be reached on a president. Under Lebanon's sectarian-based political system, the president must be a Maronite.

Government supporters accuse Syria of seeking to end the ruling coalition's small majority in parliament by killing off lawmakers. They warn of a "new war" by Syria to undermine Lebanon.

The Lebanese opposition says the Ghanem assassination was intended to scuttle attempts to reach a compromise on the presidency.

Syria has denied any involvement in the car bombing of Ghanem on a Beirut street or in seven previous assassinations since 2005, including that of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a massive car bombing.

At least 40 pro-government lawmakers have moved into the landmark Phoenicia Hotel, which is surrounded by concrete blocks and security forces.

Two police armoured vehicles were positioned across from the Phoenicia.

Under a security plan that began this morning, the downtown area around parliament was sealed off to unauthorised vehicle traffic, restaurants were closed and traffic diverted to other roads.

Security forces will ferry legislators between the legislature and the hotel.

The ruling coalition has threatened to just elect a president from their own ranks with a simple majority and end one of the last vestiges of Damascus' political control.

Hezbollah and its allies have warned that they would not recognise a candidate elected in their absence and could elect a rival president.

If the parliament cannot elect a president by November 24, Saniora and his Cabinet would automatically take on executive powers. Some in the opposition have threatened that this could lead them to back another government they are urging Lahoud to appoint before he leaves office.

That could result in two rival administrations, as occurred in the last two years of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, when army units loyal to two governments fought it out.