President Michel Suleiman on Wednesday called on all parties to guarantee the appropriate atmosphere to avoid vacuum as parliament is expected to convene next week to elect a new head of state.

During a cabinet session held at Baabda Palace, Suleiman said: “Vacuum is unacceptable. Laws haven't been put in place so that we fall in vacuum.”

Speaker Nabih Berri called on Wednesday for a parliamentary session to elect a new president on April 23.

The session is scheduled to be held at 12:00 pm.

The Syndicate of Property Owners called on Tuesday for a sit-in to reject attempts by inhabitants to block the approval of the new rent law, which was endorsed by the parliament.

A statement issued by the Syndicate stressed that the “sit-in is aimed at refuting fabrications by the tenants , who are staging suspicious demonstrations.”

Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel and the head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora agreed on the importance of coordination between the March 14 alliance's members before backing any presidential candidate, sources said Tuesday.

Saniora visited Gemayel on Monday after talks with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri in Riyadh.

President Michel Suleiman stressed on Monday that the new wage scale is a legitimate right to those demanding it, but the people's interests must be taken into consideration before endorsing it.

He explained: “A balance must be struck between revenues and expenses in a manner that will not negatively impact the economy.”

President Michel Suleiman assigned a number of financial and economic experts with studying the negative repercussions of the laws endorsed recently by the parliament, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Saturday.

According to the daily, the experts will brief Suleiman on the impact of the laws on the Lebanese economy before he takes a decision of signing them as they stipulate further spending of public money without assigning new funding resources.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun agreed not to extend the term of President Michel Suleiman, a local newspaper reported on Saturday.

According to al-Liwaa newspaper, Hariri and Aoun discussed during a previous meeting in February in the French capital Paris the presidential elections along with the formation of Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet.

Tensions between Speaker Nabih Berri and the Association of Banks in Lebanon eased on Friday after signs of a dispute were beginning to emerge between the two sides over the funding of the new wage scale.

The speaker had earlier during the day refused to meet with the ABL before its apologizes for its stance concerning the tax measures proposed by the joint parliamentary committees to fund the new wage scale.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora is in Riyadh to brief al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-Premier Saad Hariri on the results of consultations held in Beirut over the presidential elections.

An Nahar daily said Friday that Saniora was accompanied by Nader Hariri, the adviser of al-Mustaqbal movement leader.

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh stressed on Wednesday that the state treasury will not endure the endorsement of the new salary scale without causing a turmoil in the Lebanese economy.

“The state's treasury will be able to cover only 24 percent annually of the new wage scale costs,” Salameh said in comments published in al-Liwaa newspaper.