Visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch on Wednesday urged Lebanon to hold presidential elections on time.

Welch told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Fouad Seniora that "the Lebanese people have a unique opportunity now to take their future in their hands by electing a new president on time, in accordance with the constitution, and free of outside interference."

"For the members of Lebanon's democratically-elected parliament, casting a vote for president, freely and without coercion, would be a significant milestone towards the Lebanese people's goal of sovereignty and independence," added Welch, who arrived Beirut on Tuesday for a visit, the first of its kind by a U.S. official since last summer's Israeli-Hezbollah war.

On Tuesday, he had a 45-minute meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and conveyed the U.S. Administration's support for Lebanon's sovereignty and Seniora's majority government.

Lebanon's MPs are due to assemble on Sept. 25 to elect a new president to succeed incumbent pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, whose term expires in November.

Welch also met parliament speaker Nabih Berri and his main Christian ally in the opposition on Wednesday.

However, Welch refused to meet Pro-Syrian Lahoud, whom has been boycotted by the United States since assassination of Lebanon's ex- Premier Rafik Hariri in February 2005. Anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon have blamed Syria for the killing, but Syria has denied any involvement.

Source: Xinhua