President Michel Suleiman warned on Friday of extending the tenure of the parliament, calling on MPs to exert efforts to reach consensus over a new electoral law.

“Stepping over the people's will to select their representatives, which was stated in the law and based on democracy” is a red line, Suleiman told his visitors.

Consultations over a new electoral law have reached a deadlock after as foes began discussing the possibility of extending the mandate of the current parliament to by at least eight months, local newspapers reported on Friday.

Informed sources told An Nahar newspapers that the March 8 and 14 alliances kicked off discussions over the extension of the parliament's tenure on Thursday away from media spotlight.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel considered on Thursday that Speaker Nabih Berri's proposal for an electoral law can be a solution for the current crisis, calling for a proposal that secures national unity.

"The Phalange party supports any consensual suggestion that puts Lebanon's interest first and that secures partnership and national unity,” Gemayel said after meeting with Prime Minister designate Tamman Salam at the latter's residence in Beirut's Msaytbeh neighborhood.

Speaker Nabih Berri withdrew Thursday evening a proposal that mixes the 1960 electoral law and the controversial Orthodox Gathering draft law after al-Mustaqbal Movement rejected it.

Under Berri's hybrid vote plan, 64 MPs would be be elected according to the winner-takes-all system and the remaining half under the proportional representation system.

The majority of March 14 alliance MPs and lawmaker Walid Jumblat's National Struggle Front reached on Wednesday an agreement on a hybrid electoral draft-law despite the rejection of the Phalange party.

During a press conference that several of the coalition's MPs held in parliament, LF MP George Adwan said: “We reached a deal on the hybrid law that (Speaker Nabih) Berri had previously proposed.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has proposed a hybrid electoral law in response to a last-minute deal between al-Mustaqbal bloc and the Lebanese Forces on a similar vote plan that sought to avert differences among the March 14 alliance's members.

Berri scrambled to hold a meeting of around 30 MPs from the March 8 coalition on Tuesday and late at night made his proposal after the announcement of a deal on a hybrid vote law between al-Mustaqbal and the LF.

The March 14 forces intensified their contacts on Tuesday in a bid to reach an agreement on a hybrid electoral law, as the Free Patriotic Movement called on the Christian political forces to confirm their commitment to the controversial Orthodox Gathering proposal.

In remarks to MTV on the eve of Wednesday's key parliamentary session, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said “agreeing on a hybrid law would be a major triumph for both proper representation and the consensual spirit."

Special Assistant to U.S. President Barack Obama and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and Gulf Region Philip Gordon expressed on Tuesday the United States’ grave concern about the situation in Syria and condemned continued shelling of Lebanese territory from Syria.

He also condemned Hizbullah’s involvement in Syria, fighting on behalf of the regime Syrian President Bashar Assad, “which risks drawing Lebanon into the conflict and is counter to the Lebanese government’s policies.”

Independent March 14 lawmakers renewed on Tuesday their rejection of the Orthodox Gathering parliamentary electoral draft law, saying that it “represents a threat to Lebanon and all of its sects.”

MP Butros Harb said after a meeting for the MPs: “Speaker Nabih Berri should have placed more than one electoral law on parliament's agenda on Wednesday.”

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Tuesday that he belongs to the centrists bloc more than President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat.

“If centrism applies to anyone then it's me... Ever since I presumed the tasks of the speaker, I tried to communicate with all parties and I have always sought to mend ties to achieve consensus,” Berri said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.