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Likud candidate's election stuns Israel's Labor Party

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, August 1, 2000

JERUSALEM -- An underdog was chosen as Israel's new president in a race that was regarded as another blow to the government of Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Shimon Peres, the man who twice served as prime minister but never won a race for political office, lost in two rounds of voting in the parliament. The Knesset on Monday chose Likud candidate Moshe Katsav in a 63-57 vote.

Katsav, a minister in several Israeli governments, pledged to work toward uniting Israel. "We want to lead a more calm, quiet and united country," he said. "I pledge to work in this spirit. I will be a sincere and true representative of all of you."

The election of Katsav stunned the Labor Party and Israeli analysts, both of whom were certain that Peres would win. Analysts said the election was another blow to Barak, a backer of Peres and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

"I see a dissatisfaction with Ehud Barak, a no-confidence," Likud chairman Ariel Sharon said.

In the first round, Katsav won 60 votes to Peres's 57. A second round was declared when neither candidate won a required 61 votes -- a majority of the 120-member parliament.

Labor's Uzi Baram, who worked for Peres's campaign, said the vote reflected the loss of support in Barak. "The results are more political than personal and reflects the state of the government versus the opposition," Baram said. "I didn't think this would be the case."

Katsav, born in Iran and an observant Jew, campaigned for support from religious and Sephardic parliamentarians in the Knesset. Sephardi Jews come from the Middle East.

After he failed in the first round, Peres telephoned Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party, with 17 members in the Knesset. But the rabbi was not available.

Earlier, a petition was filed in the High Court that accused Peres of bribing a Likud parliamentarian to support Peres in his unsuccessful 1990 bid to become prime minister.

For Peres, it was the latest in a string of defeats in his bid to be elected public office. As head of the Labor Party, Peres lost elections in 1977, 1981, 1988 and 1996. In 1984, Peres failed to form a parliamentary majority and agreed to rotate the prime ministry with then-Likud candidate Yitzhak Shamir.

Peres succeeds Ezer Weizman, regarded as the most politically active president in Israel's history. As president, Weizman often intervened in the Middle East peace process and called for new elections for prime minister.

"What Weizman tried to do was become a back-seat driver and tried to run the country without authority," said Shlomo Avineri, a professor at Hebrew University.

Tuesday, August 1, 2000


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