by Paul Dakiki

With 95 out of 97 MPs voting for the bill, the assembly extended its mandate by an additional two years and seven months. Some see it as a prelude for an agreement between opposing factions to elect a new president and pass a new electoral law. US and EU ambassadors react negatively to the measure.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - "The extension is illegal and contrary to the Constitution and the [National] Pact," said Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros al-Rahi after the Lebanese parliament decided yesterday to extend its mandate by two years and seven months.

The patriarch's clear condemnation of the decision by Lebanon's political leaders to seek this way to bridge the gap between opposing factions is echoed by the ambassadors of the United States and the European Union.

After failing to elect a new head of state in the past few months, the decision to extend the parliament's mandate was almost unanimous. Out of 127 MPs, some 97 lawmakers turned up for the session, with 95 voting in favour of the bill proposing a second extension, after that of May 2013.

The decision, commentators point out, came days after Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah offered to cooperate with the Future Movement to protect Lebanon from mounting security threats linked to regional turmoil.

This comes after former Prime Minister Saad Hariri also voiced his willingness to cooperate with all parties, including Hizbollah, to end the country's political crisis, which has prevented the election of a president for the past five months.

The extension law includes a provisional clause stating that "once a president is elected, a new election law is passed and the extraordinary circumstances are over, the extended period will be shortened and parliamentary elections held."

However, not everyone sees the law as a step in the right direction, nor a way to accelerate the election of a new president, a key figure in Lebanon's political system, because any solution largely depends on Iran and Saudi Arabia who respectively back Shia-dominated Hizbollah and Hariri's predominantly Sunni Future movement.

For Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi Rai, the law violates the rules of democracy, thus echoing activists who yesterday raised banners denouncing parliament's "occupation".

For his part, the US Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale expressed regret over the extension. Similarly, EU Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst described Wednesday as "a sad day in Lebanon's constitutional history."

• lebanon
• law
• extension
• presidential
• election