Lebanese presidential election set to be postponed again

---

BEIRUT, Oct 21 (AFP): A scheduled parliament session this week to elect Lebanon's president is expected to be postponed again as feuding political parties are unable to agree on a consensus candidate, analysts and politicians say.
"Nothing will take place on Tuesday simply because we want to give negotiations a chance," Henri Helou, a deputy from the ruling coalition, told AFP at the weekend, referring to the upcoming parliamentary session. "We have to wait a bit but for sure there will be no session on Tuesday."
Helou and several others said parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a leading member of the Hezbollah-led opposition, would likely postpone the session to November 6 or 7 to allow negotiations to bear fruit.
Berri postponed a first session on September 24 in hopes of lawmakers reaching agreement on a consensus candidate to replace the current pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud, whose term ends November 24.