Last update - 23:28 28/10/2008
General elections to be held in Israel by middle of February
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent, and AP
A spokeswoman for the Knesset said Tuesday that national elections
will be held in mid-February.
Spokeswoman Hila Mizrachi said elections have been tentatively set for February 10. But she said Tuesday there remains a possibility that lawmakers will pass legislation moving the date a week later, to February 17.
The announcement came after members of the ruling Kadima party moved to shorten the time frame for the upcoming general elections, bringing the election date closer.
Party MKs opted to forego a three-week interim period before the 90-day countdown to a nation-wide vote. The 21-day period gives parties the chance to propose a new prime ministerial candidate to form a government.
The elections were announced by President Shimon Peres after newly elected Kadima leader Tzipi Livni informed him that she had been unable to form a government. Livni was elected last month to replace outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert, who is stepping down amid multiple allegations of corruption.
Peres formally notified Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik on Monday that Livni had been unable to form a government.
Livni was charged with forming a new government by Peres on September 22, but announced to the president on Sunday that she was unable to put together a coalition, after a key potential partner, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, said it would not join.
Olmert has since his resignation on September 21 continued to rule the country at the head of a transitional government that will be in place until a new one is formed after the elections.
The prime minister has so far resisted pressure to step aside as interim premier and allow Livni, his deputy, to take over as acting premier.
Several Kadima legislators have urged him to do so, arguing that entering the elections as an acting premier would give her an edge over her main adversary, former premier Benjamin Netanyahu of the hardline Likud party.
