Sunday's municipal and mayoral elections in Beirut and Zahle highlighted the importance of “rapprochement” between the Christian political parties, and equal Christian-Muslim power-sharing, the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc said on Tuesday.

The Beirut Madinati list of independents announced Tuesday that it received 40% of the vote in the capital's municipal polls, denying claims that it received votes from certain political parties.

Speaker Nabih Berri received on Tuesday a message from French President Francois Hollande, who expressed his country's keenness on resolving Lebanon's presidential deadlock.

He said: “We are working on ending the impasse.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi highlighted on Tuesday the impact the Syrian refugee crisis is having on Lebanon on the economic, security, political, and social levels.

He said during his ongoing trip to Paris: “Lebanon rejects the voluntary return of the Syrian refugees to their homeland.”

Parliament failed once again to elect a president following a lack of quorum at its session on Tuesday.

Speaker Nabih Berri postponed the polls to June 2.

Security forces arrested the murderer of Ziad Qasouf, who was killed in the eastern city of Zahle last month.

The Internal Security Forces identified the murderer as Y.M., a Lebanese national born in 1979.

The government is scheduled to hold a meeting later this week as it attempts to avoid tackling issues of dispute, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Tuesday.

Minister of the Displaced Alice Shabtini told the daily that the “cabinet is avoiding including contentious issues on its agenda.”

A dispute erupted during the weekend's municipal elections between leading members of the Free Patriotic Movement, which was formerly led by MP Michel Aoun, reported the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat daily on Tuesday.

Informed sources told the daily that the FPM leadership is studying the possibility of expelling some 20 members, including leading official Ziad Abs, for “rebelling against movement decisions.”

Unknown assailants tossed overnight a hand grenade in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh in the southern city of Sidon, reported the National News Agency on Tuesday.

It said that no one was injured in the attack.

The Interior Ministry announced Monday evening that it is not responsible for the delay in releasing the official results of Sunday's municipal polls as activists and supporters of the Beirut Madinati list staged a sit-in outside the ministry in Sanayeh to protest the lag.