OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP)
Israel's foreign minister and Kadima party number two challenged Ehud Olmert's party leadership on Thursday, calling for an unprecedented primary amid demands he quit as premier over graft suspicions.
"Kadima should start preparing now for any possible scenario, including elections. I am a big believer in primaries," said Tzipi Livni.
At no point, however, did Livni explicitly call for Olmert to step down as party leader or as premier.
Kadima, founded hastily by former prime minister Ariel Sharon before the March 2006 elections, does not have an internal mechanism for ousting a leader or holding party leadership elections.
Defense Minister and Labor party leader Ehud Barak, called for Olmert to step down over allegations he illegally received vast sums of cash from a U.S. financier.
As pressure on Olmert mounted, Attorney General Menahem Mazuz decided after a meeting with the state prosecution on Thursday to speed up the investigation, the justice ministry said.
Olmert, whose term ends in late 2010, has said he had no intention of quitting, although an opinion poll on Thursday found that 70 percent of people surveyed thought he should go.
"I am going to continue to exercise my functions," the embattled prime minister said on Wednesday.
Olmert, who flies to Washington on Monday for a three-day visit and a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush, has asked Kadima MPs not do anything until his return, the Maariv newspaper reported.
Barak, himself a former premier, said that unless Kadima acts to form a new government, with Labor’s support, "we will work to decide on a new agreed early date for elections."
Without the support of Labour's 19 MPs, Olmert's coalition would lose its parliamentary majority in the 120-member Knesset. |
