Israel’s corruption-tainted Prime Mminister, Ehud Olmert, will formally resign on Sunday, Israel Radio reported, but there was no official confirmation from the Israeli leader’s office.
Olmert spokesperson Mark Regev said he could not confirm the radio station’s report that the prime minister would submit his official letter of resignation to President Shimon Peres immediately after the
weekly Cabinet meeting. The president’s office also said it could not confirm that Olmert would officially resign on Sunday.
Last week, Regev told the Associated Press that Olmert would notify the Cabinet on Sunday that he was stepping down. But no precise date for his official resignation was disclosed.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who was elected last week to succeed Olmert as head of the governing Kadima Party, was busy over the weekend lobbying potential partners to join a new coalition under her
leadership.
Olmert is leaving office amid a welter of corruption allegations, after a tenure already troubled by Israel’s inconclusive 2006 war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and months of peace talks with the Palestinians that have yielded no breakthroughs. He had promised to step down as soon as a new Kadima leader was chosen, and at a party meeting on Friday, Livni pointedly brought up that pledge.
Even though she is now head of Kadima, Livni does not automatically become prime minister. Peres would have to first appoint her to try to put together a governing coalition — something he is expected to do after Olmert formally resigns. After assigned that task, Livni would have six weeks to form a new government. Should she fail, new elections would be called for early 2009, a year and a half ahead of schedule.
Over the weekend, Livni met with leaders of two small factions outside the coalition, hoping to shore up any government she could put together. Any accords that might emerge from talks with the Palestinians and recently renewed, indirect negotiations with Syria would benefit from broad-based parliamentary backing. The current government controls 67 of Parliament’s 120 seats.
Neither Kadima nor its coalition partners appear eager for a new election, fearing they would be ousted from power. But the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, which could be key to building a new coalition, has already said it would not join a government willing to share Jerusalem with the Palestinians.
As lead peace negotiator, Livni is committed to discussing all the outstanding issues between Israel and the Palestinians. The fate of Jerusalem, whose eastern sector the Palestinians claim for a future state, is at the core of the conflict. – Sapa-AP