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Barak: We will not Recommend Anyone as Next Prime Minister |
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Thursday, 19 February 2009As expected, Ehud Barak on Thursday announced that his Labor party would not endorse any candidate for prime minister and would opt instead to head for the opposition.
"The electorate has given the word," Barak said at the opening of a Labor faction meeting. "The picture is complicated and disturbing when Israel Beiteinu is the one to recommend who Israel's next prime minister will be. We are left with only one option, and that is to decide not to recommend anyone for the premiership."
Labor representatives are set to convey the party's decision to President Shimon Peres during the day.
Labor joins Meretz and the three Arab parties in deciding to remain in the opposition no matter who forms a government, to protest the assurances that Kadima gave Israel Beiteinu in pursuit of chairman Avigdor Lieberman's endorsement. Both Labor and Meretz are also being pressed to rehabilitate their parties after their losses in last Tuesday's election.
Lieberman returned from his Minsk vacation on Wednesday night to find that his status as kingmaker for a prospective coalition had been reduced after factions totaling 77 MKs decided not to join any prospective government led by Kadima leader Tzipi Livni.
United Torah Judaism decided on Wednesday to join the Likud, Shas, Habayit Hayehudi and the National Union for a total of 50 MKs who will recommend to President Shimon Peres that Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu form a government.
That leaves only two factions out of 12, including Kadima's 28 MKs and perhaps Israel Beiteinu's 15, who could potentially tell Peres in consultations set to end Thursday that they want him to entrust Livni to form a government.
Likud officials said it was clearer than ever that Peres would end up selecting Netanyahu without insisting on a rotation with Livni.
"We asked the factions on the Right to not only tell Peres that they wanted Netanyahu to form a government, but also that they would not join a government led by anyone else," a Likud official explained. "We expect Lieberman to back us, but if not, it no longer matters."
Israel Beiteinu refuted contradictory reports in the Hebrew press about whom Lieberman would recommend to Peres. They said that his decision would not be revealed until he met with the president at 10:30 on Thursday morning.
Two days after Kadima responded positively to all of Israel Beiteinu's demands except for the initiation of a loyalty oath, Likud followed suit, agreeing to its requests to topple Hamas, change the electoral system, fund immigrants and find solutions for converts seeking an easier path into Judaism and couples seeking recognition for civil unions without a religious ceremony.
Kadima and Likud each mocked the commitments of the other for not being specific enough, but the head of Israel Beiteinu's negotiating team, MK Stas Meseznikov, said they were satisfied with the responses of both parties.
"Neither of their responses were perfect, but from the seriousness of what they wrote, we are confident that our five requests will be in the coalition guidelines, and that's what really matters to us," Meseznikov said.
Likud officials warned that they could take revenge against Israel Beiteinu by leaving the party out of the coalition if Lieberman recommended anyone but Netanyahu to Peres. Lieberman's options include recommending himself or neither candidate and pushing for the formation of a national-unity government.
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Thursday, 19 February 2009
JPost
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