The cabinet of Prime Minister Tammam Salam is scheduled to make appointments of civil servants in state institutions on Friday as part of its 57-item agenda.

Alia Abbas is expected to become the Economy Ministry's new director-general while another female candidate to lead the Justice Ministry's directorate-general is Judge Maysam Nwairi.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has stressed that the agreement reached among the rival parties ahead of the formation of his cabinet earlier this year is a sign that a deal on the presidential crisis is possible.

In remarks to several local dailies published on Thursday, Salam said the deal struck between the March 8 and 14 alliances, which led to the formation of the government, “confirms that an understanding on the presidential elections is not impossible.”

Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel met with Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh on Thursday as part of his initiative to resolve the presidential crisis amid a report that Maronite leaders would hold talks in Bkirki next week.

The two officials stressed the need to hold the presidential elections before the term of President Michel Suleiman ends on May 25.

The owners of the old rent law buildings urged on Wednesday President Michel Suleiman to sign the new rent draft-law after he refused to sign it earlier during the day.

They urged during a sit-in in Beirut's al-Mathaf area the president against “washing his hands clean” of this affair, refuting his claims that the draft-law does not grant social justice.

Parliament failed on Wednesday for the third week in a row to elect a new president over differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances and amid warnings of a possible vacuum at Baabda Palace, more than two weeks before the expiry of President Michel Suleiman's tenure.

Speaker Nabih Berri set May 15 as a new round of voting after the March 8 lawmakers again boycotted the elections.

Kataeb party leader Amin Gemayel and Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun agreed Wednesday on the importance of holding the presidential elections by May 25.

Following talks with Aoun at his residence in Rabieh, Gemayel said: “We agreed on the importance of exerting all efforts to hold the polls as soon as possible.”

Politicians have denied that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has proposed a one-year extension of President Michel Suleiman's tenure, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported on Wednesday.

The politicians, who were not named, told the newspaper that al-Rahi has not made such a suggestion during talks with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri in Paris last week.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has reportedly claimed that Prime Minister Tammam Salam's government would practice the power of the president in case of a vacuum at Baabda Palace.

Pan-Arab daily al-Hahat quoted him as saying on Wednesday that there would be no vacuum given that Salam's cabinet is capable of taking over the president's authorities if lawmakers failed to elect a new head of state.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc urged the March 8 camp to announce its candidate for the presidency so that he competes in the third round of the elections on Wednesday.

The bloc, which held its weekly meeting under MP Fouad Saniora on Tuesday, stressed that it “backed the candidacy of Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea in accordance with the agreement (reached) in the March 14 alliance and called on March 8 to announce its candidate to hold competitive elections.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has suggested the one-year extension of President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Al-Rahi made his proposal during talks with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri in Paris last week, the daily said.