Begin 2009 verkiezingen in Israël

 

Nu Tzipi Livni er niet in is geslaagd een nieuwe coalitie te vormen, kan iedereen zich gaan opmaken voor nieuwe parlementsverkiezingen. Vooral ter rechterzijde wordt een luide zucht van opluchting geslaakt, maar ook velen ter linkerzijde hadden moeite met het zeer discutabele mandaat van de huidige regering om vredesonderhandelingen met de PA van Abbas te voeren over wezenlijke zaken zoals een mogelijke deling van Jeruzalem. De coalitie onder leiding van Kadima was immers begin 2006 gekozen op een programma van eenzijdige terugtrekking uit grote delen van de Westoever, en dat was een desastreuze Libanonoorlog en een corruptieschandaal van Olmert geleden.

 

Likoedleider Netanyahoe heeft bij zijn speech voor de Knesset al duidelijk gemaakt dat er wat hem betreft geen sprake zal zijn van onderhandelingen over Jeruzalem, de Golan of de Jordaanvallei. Het moeizaam weer op gang gebrachte vredesproces zou bij een Likoed overwinning dan ook zeker stil komen te liggen, tenzij hij - zoals bij zijn vorige regeertermijn - opnieuw door de VS tot concessies wordt gedwongen, wat bij een overwinning van Barack Obama in de Amerikaanse verkiezingen waarschijnlijk lijkt. Dat daar dan een vredesakkoord uit zou kunnen voortkomen is moeilijk voorstelbaar. Maar ook als Kadima de verkiezingen wint - en Livni's kansen lijken niet slecht - wordt het zwaar om een meerderheid te vinden voor het voorzetten van de huidige onderhandelingen.

 

Wouter

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Peres sets Israel polls in train

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7692611.stm

Published: 2008/10/27 16:54:53 GMT

 

Israeli President Shimon Peres has told the parliament that there is no chance of forming a government, setting the country on the road to elections.

It comes a day after Tzipi Livni, the head of the largest party, Kadima, said she had failed to form a coalition.

Foreign Minister Ms Livni was voted leader of the centrist party after outgoing PM Ehud Olmert stepped down amid corruption investigations.

General elections are now expected in or close to February 2009.

The parliament, known as the Knesset, has up to 21 days during which any of its members could, with the backing of 61 of the parliament's 120 MKs, attempt to form a coalition.

 

But correspondents say it is highly unlikely anyone will do this successfully. Elections will then be called within 90 days.

Earlier on Monday, Kadima submitted a motion calling for parliament to vote to dissolve itself in a move seeking to bypass the 21-day waiting period and bring elections forward.

But Mr Peres's announcement means the three-week period will now stand.

The next parliamentary poll had been scheduled for 2010.

Party platform

Opening the Knesset's winter session, Mr Peres warned that public trust in political leaders had waned:

"At this time the Knesset and the political system must examine itself with a critical eye. We must not allow this unpleasant truth to be hidden. It's never too late to fix things," he said.

Mr Olmert said he intended to remain prime minister in his current caretaker role until a new government was formed after the expected polls.

He said Ms Livni "made an honourable attempt to form a government".

Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, which is neck-and-neck with Kadima in the polls, used the event to outline his party's centre-right platform.

He said that if he became prime minister, he would seek peace with neighbouring countries, but stressed he would not give up the Golan Heights or negotiate over the division of Jerusalem.

Mr Olmert's government has been involved in indirect talks with Syria over a deal widely thought to involve returning the Golan Heights, occupied in the 1967 Israeli-Arab war.

The status of Jerusalem was one of the issues that Ms Livni's talks with the religious party Shas broke down over.

The party, often a crucial kingmaker in Israeli governing coalitions, is strongly opposed to negotiating on the status of the city.

Israel sees Jerusalem as its eternal, undivided capital, but the Palestinians want to locate the capital of a future state in the east of the city.

As foreign minister, Ms Livni had been heading talks with the Palestinians, but negotiations have effectively ground to a halt.

Details of the talks have not been made public, but correspondents say that peace negotiations are meaningless unless the issue of Jerusalem is at least on the table.

Ms Livni is thought likely to face a tough battle against Mr Netanyahu in the expected election.

But although he was well ahead in July when Mr Olmert announced his plans to step down, Ms Livni has since narrowed the gap.

A poll by the Dahaf Research Institute, conducted on Sunday, projected the Kadima party's number of seats unchanged at 29, slightly ahead of Likud on 26 - which is a massive predicted gain from the opposition party's 12 seats in the current Knesset.

© BBC MMVIII