Lawmakers failed in the eighth consecutive round on Wednesday to elect a new head of state, widening the country's political crisis and threatening the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Speaker Nabih Berri set a new session for July 23 after the legislative session on the election of a president was marred by lack of quorum caused by a large number of boycotting MPs.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he would hold consultations with the heads of blocs and independent MPs to find ways to resolve the presidential deadlock and prepare for the parliamentary elections.

“The parliamentary polls are approaching amid a dead end” on the presidential elections, Berri told his visitors.

Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that the parliamentary elections should take place as scheduled even if a new president was not elected and MPs failed to agree on a new electoral law.

He was quoted on Monday as saying that he rejects attempts to renew parliament’s four-year mandate, which was extended last year to November 20, 2014.

Speaker Nabih Berri has reiterated the need to provide military assistance to Lebanon to confront terrorists and stressed the importance of protecting the role of the legislative and executive branches.

“Every time I meet Arab or Western ambassadors … I tell them we need assistance, and financial and military support,” Berri said in remarks published in local dailies on Friday.

U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous said Tuesday that the world body was exerting all efforts to help the Lebanese army.

“We are well aware of the resource constraints the army faces and we are making every effort at every level to garner international assistance necessary to bolster its capacity,” Ladsous said following talks with Lebanese officials.

The U.S. and France are expected to hold talks on the political crisis in Lebanon this week as diplomats said efforts will be exerted to convince Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun to nominate a consensual presidential candidate.

An Nahar daily said Tuesday that French Ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli was summoned to Paris to set the stage for the consultations between Washington and Paris on the presidential elections deadlock.

Speaker Nabih Berri warned on Monday of the dangers the developments in the region may have on Lebanon.

He said: “The Lebanese people must unite to confront all these crises. Lebanon is a single family.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has called for the recruitment of thousands of soldiers and security personnel to confront terrorists and help the army and security agencies thwart future attacks.

Several local dailies published on Monday quoted Berri as saying that the authorities “should invest in security.”

Political figures were informed that several explosive-rigged vehicles and suicide bombers arrived in Beirut to carry out terrorist acts and spread chaos in the capital.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Saturday, Speaker Nabih Berri and several other politicians obtained the information from security agencies.

Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Tammam Salam stressed on Saturday the importance of political solidarity among the rival parties to confront terrorism in the country.

The tourist season is the first “victim of terrorism, which began to thrive in Lebanon after the developments in Iraq,” Berri said in comments published in local newspapers.