"I have no doubt about his exceptional qualities and high moral standards, but I'm afraid rival politicians could be a stumbling block," said shopkeeper Hanna Saadeh.
A huge portrait of Sleiman welcomes visitors to the picturesque village, and the 19th century stone houses overlooking the Mediterranean are decked with Lebanese flags and pictures of the local hero.
In the main square -- renamed Army Square after Sleiman became commander of the armed forces in 1998 -- a stage has been set up and municipal workers are busy preparing for a major party after Sunday's election.
Banners glorifying the president designate are displayed throughout the village, with one calling him "Our knight who comes to us with the dawn of a new day."
Sleiman's upcoming election comes after a deal struck in Qatar on Wednesday between the mainly Shiite Hezbollah-led opposition and the largely Sunni-led Western-backed government.
The accord will see Sleiman elected president, a unity government in which the opposition has veto power and a new law for parliamentary elections next year.
Siham Khoury said she was proud to have been hairdresser to the forthcoming president's wife for 18 years. "God protect him," she said. "He is a just, modest man. There is no way his tenure will pass without achievements, but there is the danger that the politicians' manoeuvrings will burn him. "Past experience is not encouraging," she added, referring to former president and army chief Emile Lahoud, who came to office "as a hero and a symbol and ended his tenure in calamity."
Sleiman comes to the presidency from the army command, just like Lahoud who began his term in 1998 by vowing to crush political corruption. However his mandate was controversially extended in September 2005 by two years and he left office last November largely discredited.
Sleiman's name emerged as the possible successor in December, but bickering over the makeup of the new government and the electoral law delayed his election.
"We almost lost hope that he would make it to the presidency," said Saydeh Habib in a local bakery bearing a picture of Sleiman with the words "Congratulations to Lebanon." "We have been waiting for this moment for six months. "I am confident that he will spare no effort to achieve the interests of Lebanon, but in this country we go to sleep with one reality and wake up with another. May God protect us from our political leaders."
Local councillor Barbar Khalifeh said a giant screen in the town square would transmit Sleiman's election live. "We are decorating the town and planning a fireworks display," he said.
Meanwhile outside Sleiman's two-storey stone house, its fence decked with Lebanese flags, municipal workers hurried to finish resurfacing the road. "We hope the path to his presidency will be as smooth as the road in front of his house," said one resident.
