BEIRUT - Lebanon is struggling to elect a new president to succeed pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud, whose term ends on the night of November 23.

According to the Lebanese constitution, the president should first be a symbol of the nation's unity and safeguard the constitution, independence, unity and territorial integrity.

The president presides over the Supreme Defence Council and is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces which fall under the authority of the Council of Ministers.

The president of the republic is elected by secret ballot and by a two-thirds majority in the Chamber of Deputies. After a first ballot, an absolute majority suffices. The president's term is for six years.

But since 1990, some amendments to the constitution have extended some presidents' terms.

In 1995, a constitutional amendment allowed then president Elias Hrawi an extra three years, and again in 1998 - allowing Lahoud, who was army commander at the time and thus ineligible, to seek the post.

In summer 2004, the Syrians, Lebanon's powerbrokers at the time, initiated another move to amend the Lebanese constitution so that their preferred candidate, Emile Lahoud, could continue as president until 2007.

The United States and other countries objected to continued Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs, and the United Nations Security Council passed resolution 1559 calling for non-interference, the disarmament of militias and for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon in accordance with previous UN resolutions.

The 128 members of Lebanon's parliament have until November 23 to choose a president.

Under a power-sharing pact made by religious leaders in 1943, the president must be a member of the Maronite Christian faith.