Émile Lahoud, the Lebanese President, charged the army last night with maintaining security in the crisis-stricken country as he stepped down from office after Parliament failed to elect his successor.

Declaring that “risks of a state of emergency” prevailed over the nation, Mr Lahoud ordered all Lebanese security agencies to be at the disposal of the army until a “legitimate government is formed”. The Government called on the army to ignore the outgoing President’s order, raising the risk of violent confrontation between rival factions.

Mr Lahoud made the dramatic announcement as Lebanon was slipping into a power vacuum. Under the Constitution he had to stand down at midnight after nine years in office. But even as the deadline loomed Parliament failed to elect a successor. The parliamentary session, boycotted by most opposition MPs, lacked the required quorum.

“A consensual president should be elected,” Mr Lahoud said as he left the presidential palace. “If they do not elect a consensual president with the required two-third majority, we have men who can stand up,” he added without elaborating.

“If we find a way to ride out the storm, we could get through it OK. But if we go down the road of escalation, we will be committing suicide,” Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Endowment’s Middle East Centre in Beirut, said.

The impasse has created a tense stand-off between the US-supported March 14 block, which forms the backbone of the Government, and the pro-Syrian Opposition, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

The March 14 block, which holds a wafer-thin majority in Parliament, has threatened to elect a president drawn from its own ranks if no consensus candidate was found. The move could spur the Opposition to form a rival government and take public action such as seizing government buildings.

Wiam Wahhab, an opposition member, told The Times that the election of a March 14 president would be “answered on the ground”. He added: “Whichever side is the strongest will win.”

Lebanon is split in support for the March 14 block and the Opposition. But the latter, led by Hezbollah, wields far greater military might. “The March 14 block knows the balance of power is in favour of the Opposition and Syria and Iran,” the as-Safir daily said.

If no president is elected, executive power falls to the Government. Mr Lahoud and the Opposition say that the present Government of the Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, became unconstitutional after all five Shia ministers walked out a year ago. He has vowed not to turn over his authority to the Government on stepping down.

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