Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Friday appointed Najib Mikati, a moderate former minister with close ties to Syria, as the country's new prime minister.

Mikati, 49, was picked by a majority of members of parliament (MPs) consulted by President Lahoud after weeks of political haggling.

Earlier in the day, Lebanese opposition nominated Mikati as its candidate for premiership in brief consultations with President Lahoud in a bid to hold May parliamentary elections on time.

Some 37 anti-Syrian opposition lawmakers reportedly backed the nomination, saying they supported Mikati because he pledged to have parliamentary elections as scheduled in May and to remove pro- Syrian security chiefs.

On Wednesday, caretaker Prime Minister Omar Karami resigned due to failure to form a new government which is to adopt a new electoral law and lead the country into the general elections before the term of the current parliament expires on May 31.

Mikati, the former public works minister, is a wealthy businessman and a Sunni Muslim MP.

With a close personal relationship with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Mikati is a political opponent of the resigned prime minister Karami in their native northern port city of Tripoli.

He was elected MP for northern Lebanon in 2000 and took the post of public works minister under several governments in 1998-2004.

Earning a master in business administration at the American University of Beirut, Mikati pursued business management studies at the prestigious INSEAD institute near Paris and Harvard university in the United States.

As a wealthy businessman, he is the co-founder and partner of Luxemburg-based Investcom Holding and was the owner of a mobile telephone companies in Lebanon until last year.

Mikati is married with three children.

Lebanon plunged into a political turbulence after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Feb. 14, which the opposition accused Syria and the pro-Damascus authorities of being responsible for.

Facing mounting international pressure and Lebanon's opposition, Syrian President Assad announced early March a two-phase plan to withdraw 14,000 troops who were sent to Lebanon within the framework of the 1990 Taif Accord ending the 1975-1990 civil war in the country.

Meanwhile, the pro-Syrian government of Prime Minister Omar Karami also had to resign, though he was reappointed by President Lahoud as the caretaker premier on March 10.

However, Karami has failed to form a national unity government and once again announced his resignation on Wednesday, which would possibly delay the elections in May.

Amid strong pressure from the opposition and the international community not to delay crucial elections, Miqati's appointment may herald a possible end to a two-month political crisis in Lebanon.