Report: Lebanese presidential elections already decided

A well-informed source in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, said that circles concerned with Lebanese Presidential elections behave on the basis that the presidential election battle has finished, because Damascus has made its presidential choice in favor of commander of the Lebanese Army Lt. Gen. Emil Lahoud, who is considered the most proper for this difficult stage.

In a statement to the Saudi daily al-Riyadh published on Sunday, the source expected a nearby summit to be convened by President Hafez al-Assad and President Elias Hrawi within the coming days. The summit will be held before the beginning of the constitutional grace period for the Presidential elections.

The source said that intensive high-level Syrian-Lebanese consultations will start in the aftermath of an extraordinary session of the Lebanese Parliament, which will be convened at the request of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and according to a draft law for a constitutional amendment submitted by the government to the parliament.

The paper added that electing Lahoud as president of Lebanon should be preceded by an amendment to article 49 of the Lebanese constitution. The article prohibits the election of state employees to the presidency unless they resigned from their post six months before the end of the President's term of office.

As a state employee, Lt. Gen. Lahoud is a director general in the Lebanese state.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri said that Lahoud has the appeal to win the presidency.

Berri, who visited Damascus last week where he convened with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad but refused to say what took place during the meeting, referred to the clarity of coordination between him and Syria for supporting Lahoud.

This comes a few days before the beginning of the election period for the Lebanese presidency, starting on September 23 and lasting until October 23.