BEIRUT - Anti-Syrian MP Boutros Harb on Thursday announced his candidacy for Lebanon's presidency, calling for renewed national dialogue and reconciliation with powerful neighbour Syria.

Harb said he would help end Lebanon's 10-month political paralysis between the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority of Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and the opposition, led by the Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

"My candidacy is linked to the consensus between both parties," Harb told a news conference in parliament, where he also called for an "honourable solution" to demands for the disarmament of the Shiite movement Hezbollah.

Harb, the first person to officially announce his candidacy, said: "If I am elected president of the republic, I shall open up dialogue at the presidential palace and I will preside over it."

Lebanon has been politically paralysed since November, when Hezbollah and its allies pulled their six ministers out of Siniora's cabinet. They are demanding the formation of a government of national unity under which they would have greater power.

Recent efforts by both the Arab League and France to broker a political compromise have come to naught.

Lebanon's president comes from the Maronite Christian community in line with the sectarian distribution of political powers. The new head of state is due to be elected by parliament between September 25 and November 24, when the mandate of pro-Syrian incumbent Emile Lahoud ends.

A successful vote requires the 128-seat house to muster the necessary quorum of 86 MPs but this will require a compromise, as Siniora's ruling coalition has just 69 MPs.

The anti-Syrian majority has enough votes in parliament to propose a candidate but not enough to secure a quorum. In any case it also has to resolve its own internal divisions.

The Christian community is bitterly divided between those who support the anti-Syrian majority, and followers of general Michel Aoun who has made a controversial alliance with Hezbollah.

This raises the spectre of Lebanon ending the year without a head of state -- a dangerous vacuum which many fear could further destabilise the country.

Concerning the disarmament of Hezbollah, which is backed by both Syria and Iran, Harb stressed the need to "find an honourable solution."

"We need to consecrate the principle of the state holding a monopoly on arms," he said, "while not disavowing the sacrifices of the Resistance (Hezbollah).

"The capabilities of the Resistance should be placed at the service of the legitimate power."

Harb also called for an "historic reconciliation with Syria," the former power broker that remains influential in Lebanon.

Relations with Damascus soured after the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri. That killing and subsequent political murders have been widely blamed on Syria, which firmly denies any connection.

He insisted on the "principle of non-interference in domestic affairs and the opening of embassies by the two countries." Syria has never formally recognised Lebanon. -AFP