BEIRUT — Lebanese politicians abandoned their second attempt to elect a new president on Wednesday, April 30, after dozens of deputies boycotted a parliamentary vote to choose a successor to President Michel Suleiman.

The country’s two main political blocs, the pro-Hezbollah March 8 alliance and its March 14 rivals, have yet to agree on a consensus candidate who could garner majority support among the 128 parliamentary deputies. The stalemate could drag on well beyond the end of Suleiman’s term on May 25.

Last week former warlord Samir Geagea won 48 votes with the backing of March 14 deputies. His total was eclipsed by the 52 blank voting slips returned by March 8 politicians. 

Former army chief Michel Aoun, who is part of the March 8 alliance, has said he will stand if a consensus emerges to support him.

In the absence of any such agreement, Wednesday’s vote was called off after Aoun’s March 8 allies stayed away from parliament, depriving it of the two-thirds quorum necessary for the vote to go ahead. The parliament’s speaker scheduled the next attempt at a vote for May 7, less than three weeks before Suleiman’s term expires.

Senior Lebanese politicians have said that talks to find his successor may drag on for several months and high profile candidates are unlikely to win broad support in the polarized political climate, meaning the choice may settle ultimately on a relatively obscure and less divisive figure.