Lebanon is set for the election of its army chief as president this weekend after political factions struck a power sharing agreement on Wednesday to end an 18-month stand-off.

Under an accord signed in Doha, the Hizbollah-led opposition won its key demand for a blocking minority in the next cabinet. But it compromised with the pro-western coalition on a new electoral law and signed a pledge not to use its vast arsenal against other Lebanese parties, paving the way for the election of Michel Suleiman, a consensus presidential candidate.