All indications suggest that the presidential vacuum “will not be lengthy” amid “strenuous French-Saudi efforts to reach a candidate on which most parliamentary blocs would agree,” opposition sources said.

“The main forces also want a presidential election that would restore regularity in the country to accompany the phase of demarcation and gas extraction,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Monday.

Before bowing out, President Michel Aoun delivered a final broadside against caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

"This morning, I sent a letter to parliament and signed a decree that considers the government resigned," he told supporters before leaving the palace in the hills above Beirut.

Caretaker PM and PM-designate Najib Mikati had said that the coming period will be focused on "acting in caretaker capacity to facilitate the state's matters and citizens' affairs," stressing that the best solution would be to "quickly elect a new president."

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil sterssed Sunday that the FPM will not endorse the presidential nomination of Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh.

Caretaker PM and PM-designate Najib Mikati swiftly hit back Sunday at President Michel Aoun, saying that the decree that he issued to accept the caretaker cabinet’s resignation “lacks any constitutional value.”

President Michel Aoun vacated the presidential palace on Sunday, amid acclaim from his supporters, a day before his mandate expires without a designated successor, which threatens a new power vacuum in the crisis-torn country.

President Michel Aoun announced Sunday in a farewell speech in Baabda that he has signed a decree “accepting the resignation” of the caretaker cabinet, as he lashed out at the judiciary and Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.

Caretaker PM and PM-designate Najib Mikati will not convene the caretaker cabinet after the end of President Michel Aoun’s term unless there is a major emergency, a media report said on Sunday.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday bid farewell to President Michel Aoun in Sunday Mass sermon, wishing him luck and success after the end of his six-year term.

President Michel Aoun left the presidential palace in Baabda at noon Sunday amid popular rallies by his supporters and tight security measures in Baabda and across several regions.