Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam reiterated on Wednesday at the end of the consultations with lawmakers in parliament that he still holds onto the formation of a national interest government whose main mission will be to supervise the parliamentary polls.

“The supervision of the elections is a big mission for the new cabinet in addition to several pressing issues that we should confront such as economic, social and security problems,” Salam told reporters in parliament on the second and last day of consultations with MPs on the formation of his government.

A bomb was found overnight in Hay al-Sellom area in Beirut's southern suburbs allegedly signed by Syria's al-Nusra Front rebel group and directed against Hizbullah, media reports said on Wednesday.

Hizbullah members cordoned off the area and prevented security forces and a military expert from reaching the scene.

Parliament agreed on Wednesday to suspend the deadline for submitting nominations for the parliamentary elections.

It agreed to suspend the deadline to May 19.

Around 600 Lebanese citizens signed a petition that rejects the adoption of the so-called Orthodox Gathering draft-law during the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Lawmakers, Ministers, businessmen, journalists, academicians and activists signed the petition that will be handed over to President Michel Suleiman and the parliament.

French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday held talks with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Paris, stressing his country's keenness on Lebanon's stability and calling on the international community to assist Lebanon in confronting the Syrian refugee crisis.

“The meeting was characterized with warmheartedness and cordiality and the two sides tackled the Lebanese-French ties and the impact of the situations in the region on Lebanon,” said a statement issued by the Elysee Palace.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc renewed on Tuesday its demand for the adoption of the hybrid parliamentary electoral law for the elections.

It said that discussions over the law should steer away from “spiteful acts”.

An Israeli court on Tuesday sentenced an Arab citizen of Israel to seven years in prison on charges of spying for Hizbullah.

A court document says Milad Khatib was convicted of being in contact with a foreign agent and assisting an enemy in wartime. It says he confessed to the charges against him as part of a plea bargain.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam launched on Tuesday consultations with parliamentary blocs on the shape and type of the new government.

Salam kicked off the consultations with a meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri at the parliament. He later held talks with Caretaker Premier Najib Miqati, who said following the meeting that he called for the formation of a government whose main purpose will be to hold the elections.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel voiced on Tuesday his party's readiness to cooperate with Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam to ensure the success of his mission to form a new government.

He said after talks with the PM-designate: “The interests of all sides hinge on Salam's success.”

President Michel Suleiman condemned on Tuesday the latest deadly sectarian violence in Egypt, including an attack on the main cathedral in Cairo, and called for coexistence.

In a statement issued by his press office, Suleiman condemned “all acts that harm the history of coexistence among societies in the Arab world and mainly Egypt.”