Anticipation, tight security in Lebanon ahead of presidential election

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Lebanon's parliament is set to convene to elect the army chief as president in a step that many hope will end the year and a half old political crisis that has brought the country to the brink of an all-out civil war. Hundreds of security troops have set up checkpoints and sealed off Beirut's downtown area where lawmakers will meet at 5:00 p.m. local time to vote for compromise candidate Gen. Michel Suleiman. Foreign dignitaries including Arab and European foreign ministers are expected to attend Sunday's session. The vote has been postponed 19 times since November when President Emile Lahoud stepped down without a successor. It comes after a deal brokered by Qatar between Lebanon's Western-backed government and Hizbullah-led opposition in five days of talks in Doha.