By Nadim Ladki
BEIRUT, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Resumed contacts between rival Lebanese politicians are unlikely to bear fruit in time for parliament to elect a new president at a session scheduled for next week, political sources said on Wednesday.
The renewed efforts at dialogue have raised hopes for the easing of a 10-month-old political crisis splitting Lebanon between a ruling majority backed by the West and its Arab allies and an opposition supported by Iran and Syria.
But the sources said more time was needed for a deal on a consensus presidential candidate.
Many fear that failure to elect a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, whose term expires in November, would push Lebanon closer to civil war.
Speaker Nabih Berri has convened the 128-member parliament on Sept. 25 to elect a president but a two-thirds quorum is impossible unless a deal is struck beforehand.
"Parliament will not be able to elect a president next week because it is not possible to reach an agreement by then," a senior political source said.
With the main Lebanese players allied or close to rival regional and international powers, rising tension in the Middle East has further complicated the political crisis in Beirut. A further escalation in tension between Iran and the United States could dim prospects of a compromise in Lebanon.
Parliament has until Nov. 23 to elect a president, who according to Lebanon's power-sharing system must be a Maronite Christian. The sources said Berri would call another session around Oct. 17 if the election did not go ahead next week.
Berri, a leader in the opposition that includes Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah, had called on the country's majority coalition to discuss a consensus candidate. But he said the coalition must first drop its threat to elect a president on its own through its slight majority in parliament.
Majority leaders, backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, welcomed the call for dialogue but some said they would retain their right to elect a president unilaterally, a move the opposition has said would lead to violence.
FOREIGN INFLUENCE
Berri and majority leader Saad al-Hariri renewed direct contacts last week. Both have stressed the need for compromise.
"We will not spare any political effort for (the election) to go ahead," Hariri said on Tuesday night. "Holding the presidential election on time opens the doors for all political, economic and social solutions."
An opposition source said the main opposition leaders had agreed to negotiate on a consensus candidate. "We are serious in this and hopeful but things are complicated and need time."
Arab League chief Amr Moussa urged rival Lebanese groups to ignore any foreign influence and agree on a candidate.
"If they fail to agree it will indeed be a very serious mistake," he told Reuters in Cairo on Tuesday, adding that he believed the chances for a deal were "more than 50 percent".
Berri is set to hold talks with influential Maronite Christian Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir before Sept. 25 and might also meet Hariri, the opposition source said.
Many candidates are in the running for the post.
The majority's main candidate is former MP Nassib Lahoud, while the opposition's favourite is the leader of the largest Christian bloc in parliament, Michel Aoun.
Possible compromise choices from outside the political divide are former ministers Michel Edde and Faris Boueiz, Army Commander General Michel Suleiman and Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh -- none of whom is yet a declared candidate.
The extension of Lahoud's term on the orders of Syria in 2004 sparked a chain of tumultuous events that plunged Lebanese into its worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Lahoud's extension led to a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for Syrian troops to leave Lebanon. It was followed by the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and the eventual end to Syria's 29-year military presence. (Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut and Alaa Shahine in Cairo)
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