Health Minister Wael Abou Faour stressed on Sunday the presidential poll is the “hostage” of personal and political disputes, hailing efforts exerted by Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat to narrow the differences between the political arch-foes through dialogue.

“Jumblat is seeking consensus (among the rivals), as holding onto the same presidential candidate will only inflict further division and the presidential vacancy is doomed to go on,” Abou Faour, who is the aide of the PSP chief, said.

Officials involved in the negotiations on the presidential deadlock have discussed several options, including a deal on a compromise Maronite candidate, to resolve the crisis, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The daily said that the officials could demand Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to pressure the current candidates to withdraw their nominations.

Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri and United States Secretary of State John Kerry stressed during their meeting on Thursday the need to elect a new president for Lebanon as soon as possible.

As Safir newspaper reported on Saturday that the talks “may produce a new international dynamic to deal with the presidential elections.”

Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri held talks on Thursday morning with United States Secretary of State John Kerry in the French capital Paris to discuss the latest Lebanese and regional developments.

The former premier's media office stated that the two officials stressed the need to end the vacuum in the presidency and “exert all possible efforts to elect a new head of state as soon as possible.”

Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri on Tuesday snapped back at Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun over the latter's remarks on guaranteeing the “political security” of the former premier if he returns to Lebanon.

“I don't need any political security when I decide to return to Lebanon as God protects everyone. General Aoun may have clarified what he meant but despite that his statement was inappropriate and should not be said to Saad Hariri or to any other Lebanese politician,” Hariri said in response to a reporter's question after meeting ex-president Michel Suleiman in Paris.

The U.S. and France are expected to hold talks on the political crisis in Lebanon this week as diplomats said efforts will be exerted to convince Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun to nominate a consensual presidential candidate.

An Nahar daily said Tuesday that French Ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli was summoned to Paris to set the stage for the consultations between Washington and Paris on the presidential elections deadlock.

The recent meeting between head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat failed to make a breakthrough in the dispute over the presidential elections, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.

Informed sources explained that Jumblat voiced his commitment to the nomination of Democratic Gathering MP Henri Helou, while the former premier expressed his commitment to maintaining his rapprochement with head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun.

Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri is scheduled to hold talks next week with United States Secretary of State John Kerry, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Friday.

An informed source told the daily that the two officials are set to meet in the French capital Paris on Thursday.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed during their Paris meeting on the “necessity to strengthen joint action” to secure holding the pending constitutional junctures, a statement released by the PSP revealed on Saturday.

The leaders highlighted the importance of holding these junctures, on top of them the presidential elections “to avoid extending vacuum (in the presidency) and to preserve the institutional work in this critical phase,” the statement detailed.

A long-awaited meeting between former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat was finally held on Friday evening in the French capital Paris.

The talks are the first between the two leaders in over a year, and they are expected to discuss the country's presidential deadlock.