BEIRUT - Saad Hariri, son of the slain former premier Rafiq Hariri, will delay the announcement due Thursday night of his electoral list to allow more consultations with opposition factions, a statement from his office said.
The delay comes "in light of the developments that the country witnessed in the past few hours, and as a result of the discussions and decisions announced today by the ... opposition", the statement said.
"This will allow more consultations which are important in stressing the unity of the national stance and in containing the atmosphere of sectarian incitement," the statement said.
Earlier Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition agreed to set up a leadership committee to draft joint electoral lists to bolster Christian representation in polls later this month.
"We have decided to call a meeting of the heads of opposition factions to draft joint electoral lists ... to contain the flaws of the (2000 electoral) law imposed by the Syrian-Lebanese security authorities," a statement said.
A source close to Hariri told AFP the committee was expected to meet very quickly and include figures of the Christian and Muslim opposition.
Members are expected to include Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, Saad Hariri, Christian hardliner Michel Aoun as well as Sitrida Geagea, the wife of jailed former Christian militia leader Samir Geagea.
The four-hour meeting opened amid growing rifts and calls for the elections to be delayed after stern warnings from the powerful Maronite Church over constituency boundaries, seen as unfavourable to the Christians.
Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir reiterated on Thursday his rejection of elections held on the basis of a Syrian-tailored 2000 law used in the last polls, which could return a pro-Syrian parliament to Lebanon.
A newcomer to politics, Hariri, 35, has been heading his father's financial empire.
On Monday he told thousands of supporters at his home he will carry his father's mantle and run in one of Beirut's three constituencies. He had initially planned to reveal his list Tuesday evening.
He has until Friday to do so.
05/12/2005 15:30 GMT