While the country's rivals all agree that the crisis is a purely political one, the sectarian undertones are clear and apparently are affecting the position of the religious-based political communities in a country that functions on a multi-confessional system that is intended to allow power-sharing between the three major sects.

According to a 1943 "national pact" after Lebanon's independence from France, the presidential seat is allocated to a Maronite Christian, while the prime minister must be a Muslim Sunni and the House speaker a Muslim Shiite.

But the country has been without that Christian president since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term last November, while the pro-Western March 14 alliance and the anti-Western March 8 opposition quarrel over the make-up of the new government before parliament can elect their "consensus candidate," army chief General Michel Suleiman.

Lebanese analysts agree that if the Christians – traditionally allied with the West – were united in one political camp, the presidential palace in Baabda would have not become vacant by even a single day and the country would not be facing its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

Not all politicians disagree with this assessment, however. Another point of view is that the solution to the problems blocking the election of Suleiman is not solely a Christian matter and that the Maronite Church did urge the Christian parties in parliament to vote for a president without preconditions.

Antoine Zahra, a Christian MP from the Lebanese Forces, placed the blame on the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), led by former army general Michel Aoun, for setting conditions and hurdles to the election.

Eighteen parliament election sessions were postponed after the Hezbollah-led opposition, of which the FPM and its 21 MPs are members, boycotted the votes. House Speaker Nabih Berri set May 13 as a new date to vote.

In fact, Aoun took the Christian community by surprise when he allied himself with Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, shortly after he returned to Lebanon from a 15-year exile in France.

During his exile, he had repeatedly opposed the Syrian presence in his country and returned home only after Damascus withdrew its troops after a 29-year presence, following domestic and international pressure in the aftermath of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination in February 2005.

In an interview with the Middle East Times at his high-security residence in eastern Beirut, Zahra said that while the FPM is not directly linked to Syria, Aoun's party is allied with an opposition that is backed by Syria.

He indicated that Damascus was directly ordering its allies Hezbollah and the Shiite Amal Movement, led by House Speaker Nabih Berri, to repeatedly boycott parliament's election sessions so they will fall short of the required two-thirds quorum.

"We know for a fact that there is a fundamental and vital Syrian role that could be played in pressuring the March 8 [opposition] group through Hezbollah and Amal," Zahra said. "We don't say that Syria is pressuring the FMP, but we say it is linked to a force that is directly linked to Syria."

The MP said the Christians in the March 14 coalition see Aoun's alliance with Hezbollah as harming the Lebanese, particularly the Christian interests, since Hezbollah works to "achieve the Iranian strategic scheme in the Middle East."

The FPM, which has a substantial grassroots following, refuses to associate itself with Syria or Iran, saying its alliance with the predominantly Shiite opposition is to oppose U.S. and Western interference in the country's affairs to ensure the country's independence.

Inter-Christian tension was heightened last week in the town of Zahle when suspected Christian gunmen shot dead two Christian Phalangist Party members from the March 14 group. The gunmen have not yet been apprehended.

Former President Amin Gemayel, head of the party, blamed some Christian opposition leaders for the shooting, saying that they were "covering up an obvious and terrible plot to spark divisions and ignite a war."

Analysts say that so long as Lebanon's politicians fail to agree over the presidential crisis, the Christians will likely remain as divided as the rest of the country. And for the Christian community, prolonging the crisis raises the odds against their role in power sharing.

"If no president is elected, there is no role for the Christians in administering the country," Zahra said, noting that, other than the army command and the central bank, the highest Christian political position is reserved for the republic's president.

"The absence of a Maronite president means the absence of the Christian role in administering the state at the level of the legitimate constitutional institutions," MP Zahra said.