BEIRUT, Nov 15: Visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged feuding Lebanese leaders on Thursday to set aside their differences and proceed with the election of a president by a Nov 23 deadline.

“A free and fair election of a new president appointed through constitutional rules, without foreign interference, is a milestone for the development of Lebanon as a vibrant democracy,” Ban said on his arrival in Beirut.

“It constitutes a pillar in its aspiration to recover its full political independence and sovereignty and to secure its territorial integrity.” Ban said it was imperative for parliament to convene next week and elect a successor to pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud to put a stop to the country’s worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

“The election of a new president should take place on time and in accordance with constitutional procedures,” he said.

Ban was scheduled first to hold talks with members of the Western-backed ruling majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition who have been at loggerheads over who should replace Lahoud.

The UN chief was also due on Friday to meet with Nasrallah Sfeir, the influential leader of the Christian Maronite community, from which Lebanon’s president is traditionally drawn.

He was accompanied on his trip by Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN special envoy to the Middle East.

Lebanon’s pro-and anti-Syrian camps have been deadlocked for more than two months on the choice of a candidate to replace Lahoud, prompting fears of two parallel governments being formed.

France, Lebanon’s former colonial power, has spearheaded diplomatic efforts for the vote to take place with Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner convincing Sfeir earlier this week to draw up a list of candidates whose names could then be hashed over by the majority and opposition.

Sfeir had previously resisted being drawn to the forefront of the crisis for fear of being accused of bias toward a particular party or candidate but he buckled under intense pressure from France.

It was unclear on Thursday whether Sfeir had submitted his list of names, which was awaited anxiously in political circles where a guessing game was being played out as to who would end up on the list.

Lebanese newspapers speculated that Nassib Lahoud and Boutros Harb, the two candidates backed by the ruling majority, would be included along with Michel Aoun, the only declared candidate from the opposition.

The patriarch is expected to add three or more names to that list which would then be studied by parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a leading member of the opposition, and Saad Hariri, head of the majority bloc in parliament.

The pair could then pick two to three candidates to be proposed at a November 21 parliament session for MPs to hold a presidential vote.

Three previous sessions for the election were scrapped for lack of consensus and a session next Wednesday is seen as a last-chance attempt to avert a full-blown crisis.

The ruling majority, which has 68 MPs in the 127-seat parliament, has threatened to go ahead with an absolute majority vote if an agreement is not reached by the Nov 23 deadline, prompting warnings by Hezbollah that this would be tantamount to a coup.

Apart from Kouchner and the UN chief, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema was expected in Beirut on Friday to push the feuding sides to agree.

Kouchner was also due to return next week — for his sixth visit in as many months — to ensure the vote goes through.

—AFP