Lebanese flags and pictures of army chief Michel Suleiman adorned Beirut's streets Sunday as parliament prepared to elect the consensus candidate as president - a key step toward reconciling Lebanese factions after a long political crisis that has brought the country to the brink of all-out civil war. Hundreds of policemen and army troops sealed off the capital's downtown area where lawmakers are scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT) to vote for the compromise choice of both the majority and opposition. 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 after five days of talks there between Lebanon's Western-backed government and the Hizbullah-led opposition.