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Lebanese Election Postponed for Eleventh Time

The speaker of the Lebanese parliament has, for the 11th time, postponed the election of a new president. January 12th is now the date on which the president will be elected. The latest delay came because of a constitutional controversy over whether it was necessary to enact a constitutional amendment in order to allow the election of a "grade one civil servant" to the presidency. The opposition is still not happy. Marada party leader Suleiman Franjieh threatened to prevent the new government’s election unless opposition gets eleven cabinet seats as promised. The Daily Star (Beirut) newspaper wrote that Michel Aoun, another opposition leader, said on Friday that the "vacuum" in government was planned by the ruling coalition and likened its efforts to end it as a "coup."