Efforts to form a new government have reached a dead-end given the tense local and regional developments, reported the daily An Nahar Friday.

President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri's efforts have not yielded any results, while al-Joumhouria newspaper Friday said that these efforts will gain steam as soon as the disputes over the extension of parliament's term and holding the elections are resolved.

Head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora contacted on Thursday a number of Shiite religious and political figures as part of efforts to put an end to Hizbullah's “dangerous” fighting in Syria.

He stressed the need to end the party's involvement “through all possible means.”

Top leaders from the March 14 alliance have held a meeting to discuss the cabinet formation efforts and the parliamentary elections crisis, An Nahar daily reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said that the meeting, which was held on Tuesday and attended by al-Mustaqbal, the Lebanese Forces, the Phalange party and March 14 independent figures, was chaired by al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora.

The head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora slammed on Sunday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech, saying that it has taken Lebanon on a “new and dangerous” track.

He said in a statement: “Nasrallah has steered Lebanon towards the conflict in the region.”

A Phalange Party delegation continued on Friday a tour on Lebanese rival groups to discuss the initiative proposed by the party to introduce a constitutional amendment, which calls for neutrality and dissociate the country from the conflicts surrounding it.

“We are trying to attain the largest support for our proposal,” Phalange Party MP Sami Gemayel said after talks with the head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc, Fouad Saniora.

Head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora slammed on Wednesday Hizbullah's fighting in Syria alongside regime forces, saying that those seeking to avert the repercussions of the crisis should not send their youth to fight in the country.

He therefore urged President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Premier Najib Miqati, Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam, and all political leaders and MPs to realize the dangers facing Lebanon.

Beirut Maronite Bishop Boulos Matar has been tasked by Bkirki to promote a hybrid electoral plan that was previously proposed by President Michel Suleiman, An Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday despite the clergyman's denial.

An Nahar said that the proposal allows 68 candidates to be elected under the winner-takes-all system in 26 electoral districts and 60 via proportional representation in 11 districts.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, who is currently abroad, dispatched on Tuesday Beirut Bishop Boulos Matar to President Michel Suleiman, al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora and caretaker Minister Wael Abou Faour as part of efforts to resolve the elections crisis.

“We discussed the elections and the electoral law that we are looking forward to in Lebanon,” the bishop said after meeting Saniora.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov hoped on Saturday that the unanimity on Tammam Salam's nomination would allow the premier-designate to quickly form the new government, warning against the prolongation of Syria's conflict and its repercussions on Lebanon.

“We hope that the unanimity on his nomination would reflect on the cabinet formation process and allow Salam to quickly form it,” Bogdanov told reporters in al-Msaitbeh after holding talks with the prime minister-designate.

A meeting of caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Premier-designate Tammam Salam, and former Premiers Fouad Saniora and Omar Karami deemed on Wednesday the recent Higher Islamic Council elections as “illegal.”

They said after a meeting at the Grand Serail: “Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani not only violated Shura Council decisions to halt the elections, but his call to hold them and manner in which they were staged constituted a violation of all laws on the matter.”