Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged the rival March 8 and 14 alliances on Thursday to officially announce the name of their presidential candidates and elect a new head of state.

“It is a shame that the presidential vacuum crossed the one-year mark,” al-Rahi told a delegation from the Maronite League that visited him in Bkirki.

Contacts between Bkirki and officials from the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Marada Movement are expected to be activated this week in an attempt to resolve the presidential deadlock.

An Nahar daily said Wednesday that Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan is planning to hold separate talks with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, LF chief Samir Geagea and Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea noted Tuesday that the election of a new president would resolve the country's growing political crisis, as he stressed that only the army should be entrusted with defending the country.

“If the obstruction of the presidential election is causing governmental crises, then the solution is not further obstruction but rather the immediate election of a president who would restore the regularity of the work of the government, the parliament and the rest of institutions,” said Geagea at an LF ceremony in Maarab.

The student departments of the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement held an unprecedented meeting on Sunday during which they agreed to abide by “the approach of dialogue.”

The meeting at the Beithania center in Harissa witnessed a surprise visit by LF leader Samir Geagea.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun has considered himself a consensual candidate stressing that he would not accept a "puppet" to rule the country.

Aoun told al-Joumhouria daily in an interview published on Friday that he told his supporters to mobilize for street protests.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat have rejected terrorist activities and announced their support for stability, Geagea's press office announced on Friday

Geagea and his wife MP Sethrida visited Jumblat in Clemenceau on Thursday night, said the statement.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has said that the dialogue between his party and the Free Patriotic Movement should have started a long time ago.

“But it's better late than never,” Geagea said in an interview to be published on Thursday, according to his press office.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has advised Christian parties not to waste historic opportunities and to agree on a consensual candidate other than Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are in a dispute over the situation in Yemen, so there won't be any mediator to help Lebanese MPs elect a new president, Jumblat said in remarks published on Tuesday.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea rejected on Monday "media campaigns" against the army and its deployment in regions bordering Syria in the wake of clashes between Hizbullah and Syrian regime forces with extremists in the neighboring country.

He declared: “We only recognize the authority of the army in its deployment in Arsal and the Bekaa.”

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea stated on Saturday that the state must behave well with the Sunni community in order to prevent any attempts on their part to engage in the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

“In order for the state to prevent Daesh from entering Lebanon, it must behave well with the Sunni community to prevent them from joining the ranks of Daesh,” said Geagea after meeting a public delegation from the region of Batroun.