Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stressed Monday that the country can no longer tolerate a political vacuum, saying Premier-designate Najib Miqati should form the new government as soon as possible.

“Lebanon can no longer tolerate the inexistence of an executive authority,” al-Rahi told reporters at Beirut airport before heading to the Vatican.

Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s latest remark on his party’s ties with the Amal movement thwarted attempts to create disunity between the two allies.

Nasrallah’s statement “foiled an attempt to break the unity between Hizbullah and Amal,” Berri told As Safir newspaper in remarks published Monday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat refused to consider that al-Mustaqbal movement was defeated in the elections of the Engineers Syndicate in Iqlim al-Kharroub.

Jumblat remarked Monday to As Safir daily that the Sunni independent candidate in Iqlim al-Kharroub, backed by the new parliamentary majority, won Sunday’s elections.

Efforts are underway to hold a reconciliation meeting in Bkirki between Lebanon’s top Christian leaders after Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s return from the Vatican later in the week, An Nahar daily reported Monday.

The newspaper said that the meeting would bring together Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel, Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and the head of the Marada movement, Suleiman Franjieh.

Lebanon’s ambassador to Bahrain, Aziz al-Qazzi, has said that six Lebanese expatriates were requested to leave Bahrain, after relations between the two countries deteriorated following the Hizbullah leader’s support for the Shiite-led Bahraini opposition.

While al-Qazzi didn’t confirm to An-Nahar daily the reasons behind the expulsion, he told The Daily Star newspaper in remarks published Monday that “security reasons” forced the Bahraini authorities to take such a decision.

An Internal Security Forces member and a man wanted for the death of several soldiers were killed in a gunfight in the Bekaa town of Majdal Anjar on Sunday night.

An Nahar newspaper said Monday that an ISF Information Branch patrol chased Darwish Khanjar and his companion after they robbed Suzan Jebara of her Honda CRV at gunpoint.

The March 8-backed list won the Beirut Engineers Syndicate elections on Sunday, as the list backed by the rival March 14 camp garnered the majority of votes in the North Engineers Syndicate polls.

Free Patriotic Movement’s Elie Bsaibes, the March 8 candidate for the chairmanship of the Beirut syndicate, garnered 6,699 votes while Lebanese Forces candidate Imad Wakim, who was backed by the March 14 forces, received 6,412 votes.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati has expressed frustration over the attempts of some parties to hold him responsible for the delay in the formation of the new government.

An Nahar daily said Sunday the prime minister-designate believes that these parties are taking advantage of Miqati’s decision not to make any statement by throwing accusations at him and linking the delay to personal interests or pressure from Syria.

France informed President Michel Suleiman that he has a pivotal role in guaranteeing a balance of power between the different political factions in the country, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported Sunday.

Informed French sources told the newspaper that President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a letter to his Lebanese counterpart with his envoy Patrice Paoli, stressing that Paris considers Suleiman a “guarantor of institutions.”

A woman was killed in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Saturday night from celebratory gunfire during Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s televised statement.

The National News Agency said Suaad Abdullah Bashir, 47, was severely injured at 9:30 pm in Bourj al-Barajneh’s Othman street.