Lebanon's parliamentary speaker has postponed a vote today that was the last chance to choose a president before pro-Syrian head of state, Emile Lahoud leaves office at midnight.
Speaker Nabih Berri, who is also a Shia opposition leader, delayed the election for a fifth time because rival factions were deadlocked, and he set a new session for November 30th.
The decision means Lebanon will be without a president for at least a week.
Unless a consensus candidate emerges, many fear the dispute may lead to two competing administrations and violence in a country still scarred by its 1975-1990 civil war.
More than 100 lawmakers from the Western-backed majority and the Hizbullah-led opposition went to the parliament building in downtown Beirut, but opposition MPs did not enter the assembly chamber in line with a boycott declared a day earlier.
Mr Berri announced the delay after separate meetings with majority leaders Saad al-Hariri and Walid Jumblatt.