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Sharon seeks dissolution of parliment
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-21 19:30
In a bold political gamble, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
on Monday asked Israel's president to dissolve parliament, pushing for a March
election after deciding to leave his hardline Likud Party and to form a new
centrist political movement.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spreaks
during the weekly cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem office, in this Sunday,
July 17, 2005 file photo. Israel's dovish Labor Party voted Sunday to pull
out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government, and Sharon is reportedly
quitting his Likud Party to set up a new movement _ kicking off a campaign
for elections expected in March.
[AP] |
Sharon's decision to leave Likud, the party he helped establish in 1973,
redraws Israel's political map, formalizing his transformation from hardliner to
moderate. It also increases the chances of progress in peacemaking with the
Palestinians.
Sharon felt Likud hardliners, who had tried to block this summer's Gaza
pullout, were imposing too many constraints on him and would prevent future
peace moves.
Dissolving parliament would move the election up from November to the
beginning of March, because a new election would have to be held within 90 days.
President Moshe Katsav said he would weigh the request and decide after
consulting with leaders of other parties.
Katsav said Sharon told him during a Monday morning visit at the president's
home that he could no longer run the government because he does not have a
majority in parliament.
"Of course, I think we need to dissolve the Knesset and
hold elections as soon as possible," Katsav said.
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