BEIRUT: The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and allied Christian politicians boycotted a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, a sign of rising political tensions that have paralyzed Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s national unity government.

Ministers from the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) led by Michel Aoun shunned the meeting in protest at what the party’s website described as Salam’s usurping of powers reserved for the president. A Hezbollah minister said the group had boycotted in solidarity with its allies.

The presidency, reserved for a Christian in Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since last year when Michel Suleiman’s term expired. Aoun is a frontrunner for the post but it cannot be filled without cross-party consensus, which he does not enjoy.

Friction within Salam’s government, formed last year, has escalated in recent weeks over issues including a decision to extend the term of army commander General Jean Kahwaji.

Aoun has sought the appointment of Brig.-General Shamel Roukoz, his son-in-law, as the next army chief.

The Cabinet has spared Lebanon a complete vacuum in government with the presidency vacant, and political sources say foreign governments with influence in Lebanon are determined to prevent it collapsing.