Parliament agreed on Wednesday to suspend the deadline for submitting nominations for the parliamentary elections.

It agreed to suspend the deadline to May 19.

The second day of the binding parliamentary consultation kicked off on Saturday morning with the blocs continuing their support for MP Tammam Salam to head a new government.

LBCI television reported that the MP garnered a total of 124 votes by lawmakers to assume the position of prime minister.

Independent Christian March 14 MPs stressed on Tuesday the need to form a neutral government that can oversee the parliamentary elections.

They said after a meeting at MP Butros Harb's residence: “We will coordinate our stances with the March 14 camp in order to reach an agreement over a new prime minister who will form a neutral cabinet.”

Independent March 14 MPs condemned on Tuesday the Syrian regime's shelling of Lebanese areas on Sunday, hailing President Michel Suleiman's stance on the matter.

MP Butros Harb said: “We hope Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour would not rebel against Suleiman's demand to file a complaint against the Syrian regime's shelling of Lebanese territory.”

Opposition MP Butros Harb rejected on Sunday the extension of the tenure of the current parliament, stressing that the March 14 alliance was able to bridge the gap among its members.

“In principle I reject extending (the term of the parliament). I have never agreed on violating the constitution,” Harb said in an interview with An Nahar newspaper.

Consensus between rival parties on a hybrid electoral draft-law was on Wednesday not looming on the horizon after reports said that Hizbullah rejected it and talks between March 14 opposition officials and the Progressive Socialist Party slowed.

Hizbullah informed Speaker Nabih Berri that it rejected the hybrid proposal, which a team of experts and MPs from the opposition al-Mustaqbal movement and the centrist Progressive Socialist Party are seeking to draft, al-Liwaa daily reported.

A meeting of March 14 independent figures held a meeting on Friday to discuss a new parliamentary electoral law in light of Interior Minister Marwan Charbel's opening of the door for nominees to submit their candidacies, reported the daily An Nahar Saturday.

MP Butros Harb told the daily that the talks focused on a law that “offers fair representation for Christians, while maintaining national unity.”

Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawan asked for the death penalty against a Hizbullah member in the attempted assassination of Batroun MP Butros Harb.

Sawan's request against Mahmoud al-Hayek, who hasn't surrendered to police, came in an indictment he issued Thursday.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr asked on Wednesday for a sentence of life in prison with hard labor for a Hizbullah member in the attempted assassination of Batroun MP Butros Harb.

Saqr referred the request against Mahmoud al-Hayek to Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawan to issue the indictment.

An optimism by al-Mustaqbal movement on consensus among the opposition factions and the centrist Progressive Socialist Party on an electoral draft-law was played down on Wednesday by both PSP chief Walid Jumblat and March 14 opposition MP Butros Harb.

“There is nothing final yet on the electoral draft-law,” Jumblat told An Nahar newspaper.