Lebanon faced an explosive power vacuum Saturday as President Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term with no elected successor and a raging feud over who was in charge in the politically divided nation.
Lahoud, who is backed by Syria and Iran, walked out of the presidential palace in a simple ceremony at midnight (2200 GMT) Friday.
Before leaving office, he said he was handing over responsibility for the country's security to the army, a move slammed by pro-Western rival Prime Minister Fuad Siniora as unconstitutional.
The standoff prompted global calls for calm and for Lebanon's fractious leaders to find a compromise in the political deadlock that has gripped the country for the past year.
Speaking to reporters, Lahoud warned that "if they do not elect a new consensual president, with the required two-third majority, we have men who can stand up."
He also reiterated his view that Siniora's government was "illegal and unconstitutional, whatever America and France and others would say."
With tanks and troops on the streets of Beirut to maintain security, lawmakers from the Western-backed majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition had been scheduled to convene on Friday in a final bid to elect Lahoud's successor.
But the session was postponed, for the fifth time in two months. A new vote has been scheduled for November 30.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people, mostly supporters of parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, feted Lahoud's exit in central Beirut's Tarik Jadideh quarter with traditional dances.
"We are celebrating because Lahoud's mandate was the darkest in Lebanon's history," said local resident Mazen Hammoud.
"It is during his mandate that all these martyrs were assassinated, including former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri," he said.
Rafiq Hariri, Saad's father, was killed in a 2005 massive Beirut bombing that has been widely blamed on neighboring Syria, which was subsequently forced to end 29 years of military domination in Lebanon.
Lahoud, a Christian Maronite and a former army chief who has been head of state since 1998, had vowed not to hand power to Siniora.
Instead, presidential spokesman Rafiq Shalala announced Friday night that Lahoud had decided to hand over to the army responsibility for maintaining order as "there are conditions and risks on the ground that could lead to a state of emergency."
The army, contacted by AFP, declined to comment.
However, an official in Prime Minister Siniora's office said Lahoud's action "is not valid and (is) unconstitutional. It is as if the statement was never issued."
Following a Friday night cabinet meeting, Siniora said the government would carry on with its duties after midnight.
The long-running standoff has prompted fears that two rival governments could be formed, as was the case at the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
The ruling coalition had called on all MPs to attend Friday's session to elect a new president but the opposition said it would boycott the vote and warned against any attempt to elect a president without a two-thirds quorum.
The four previous sessions to pick a successor to Lahoud were called off despite foreign envoys scrambling to Beirut to get the rival sides to agree.
The ruling coalition, which has 68 deputies in the 127-member parliament, has repeatedly vowed to proceed to a simple majority vote if no agreement is reached, but it said this was no longer on the cards Friday.
The standoff began after the Shiite militant group, empowered by its 34-day war with Israel last year, pulled its ministers from the cabinet in November 2006 to gain more representation in government.
The crisis is widely seen as an extension of the regional confrontation pitting the United States against Iran and former powerbroker Syria.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he "regrets this development and urges all parties to maintain calm as well as to further intensify efforts to reach a compromise as soon as possible," according to a statement from his office.
The US State Department urged "all Lebanese political groups to do their part to maintain calm ...
"Discussions should continue aimed at electing, as quickly as possible and according to the constitution and to democratic principles, a new Lebanese president who will stand for Lebanon's independence and sovereignty..."
In Brussels, the European Union's Portuguese presidency voiced regret over the situation and appealed to "all political parties to continue dialogue with a view to electing a president as soon as possible."
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