Lebanese President Emile Lahoud has left office without agreeing upon a successor. The country has been left in political limbo. Before his term expired, Lahoud handed Lebanon’s security to the army, which Prime Minister Fouad Siniora rejected. “The government is legitimate and constitutional,” Siniora said in a statement.

Lebanon’s constitution states that presidential powers are to be automatically transferred to the government if there is no new president. That would have put Western-backed Siniora in power. However, Siniora’s government is viewed as illegitimate by Lahoud and the opposition ever since the resignation of all Shia cabinet members last year caused the government to violate the Lebanese constitution, which states that the cabinet must be half-Christian and half-Muslim.

After the US and Israel lost their war against Lebanon, Hezbollah demanded veto power on key cabinet issues against the Western-backed majority party. The request was denied, so Hezbollah pulled its ministers from the cabinet. Lebanese politics have been in paralysis ever since. A great distrust persists between the mainly Western-backed and Syrian-backed members of government.

A session to elect President Lahoud’s successor on Friday was postponed for another week, due to an opposition boycott of the poll. Four previous sessions were also called off in the last few months. In the meantime, Lahoud said the measure to hand security over to the army was necessary “given the exceptional circumstances and in the interest of the country.” He continued, “There are conditions and risks on the ground that could lead to a state of emergency.”

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