The March 14 alliance considered on Sunday that outgoing President Michel Suleiman scolded lawmakers in his message to the parliament for failing to carry out their constitutional duties.

Sources close to the March 14 coalition told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper that Suleiman in his messages was seeking to rebuke the parliament for failing to elect a new head of state as his tenure end next week.

Speaker Nabih Berri said that electing a new president might be at the last-minute ahead of the end of outgoing President Michel Suleiman's term next week.

The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, published on Sunday, quoted Berri's visitors as saying: “The only window of opportunity remaining is reaching consensus over a candidate ahead of May 25.”

The Vatican considers the presidential elections in Lebanon as a battle of existence that surpasses the Maronites and focuses on the active Christians role in state posts in the country and the Middle East.

Sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Friday that the Vatican is persuading the United States Administration and world powers to safeguard the presidential polls and avert any vacuum at the helm of Lebanon's most important Christian post.

March 8 alliance lawmakers have promised to attend a fourth round of presidential elections set to take place next Thursday although they haven't specified if they would vote or not, Speaker Nabih Berri announced.

Berri told his visitors on Thursday that the lawmakers, who have so far boycotted the parliamentary sessions aimed at electing a president, will attend the fourth round.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea lashed out on Thursday at the March 8 alliance, accusing it of “intentionally obstructing the presidential elections.”

“Some are stating that boycotting the parliamentary sessions to elect a president is a right guaranteed by the constitution but that's not true,” Geagea said in a press conference held at his residence in Maarab.

Lawmakers once again failed on Thursday to elect a new president as differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances led to a lack of quorum in the fourth parliamentary session aimed at choosing a new head of state.

Speaker Nabih Berri set May 22 as the fifth round to hold the elections.

A parliamentary session set by Speaker Nabih Berri on May 27 to continue discussions on the public sector wage scale is under the threat of lack of quorum, An Nahar daily reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said that Christian MPs from the March 8 and 14 alliances have threatened to boycott legislative sessions if a new head of state was not elected after the expiry of President Michel Suleiman's term on May 25.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil has discussed with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal the presidential deadlock as al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri intensified his meetings to avoid a vacuum, An Nahar daily reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said that Bassil held long discussions with al-Faisal on Tuesday, which required him to stay another day in Riyadh.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that a parliamentary session on the public sector wage scale would be held after May 25 if MPs failed on Wednesday to approve the hike.

Berri told several local dailies that lawmakers will discuss each clause of the pay raise draft-law, which was amended by a ministerial-parliamentary committee, on Wednesday morning and in the afternoon session.

The International Support Group for Lebanon has urged Lebanon to hold the presidential elections on time and free of foreign meddling, the U.N. announced on Monday.

Speaking to the press after meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly said that “the presidential election process is now entering a crucial phase, with less than two weeks remaining until May 25” when President Michel Suleiman's six-year term expires.