Netanyahu Calls for New Israeli Elections

The leader of Israel's rightwing Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, today called for fresh elections in Israel after the Kadima leader Ehud Olmert's decision to resign as the prime minister.

Recent opinion polls suggest Likud - which is strongly critical of Olmert's peace efforts with the Palestinians and Syria - would win an early parliamentary contest.

"This government has reached an end ... it doesn't matter who heads Kadima," Netanyahu told Israeli Radio. "They are all partners in this government's total failure."

"National responsibility requires a return to the people and new elections."

Olmert's successor as Kadima leader would not automatically take over as prime minister.

Israeli law means the current government would be dissolved, and the new leader would have to form a coalition before taking over.

Kadima is currently in a coalition with the left of center labor party, Olmert's largest partner.

Opinions differ on whether his successor could form a new government without the need for fresh elections.

Ehud Barak, the labor leader, said he believed Kadima could form a new government without the elections called for by Netanyahu.

However, the deputy prime minister, Haim Ramon, a Kadima party leader and Olmert confidant, said he believed fresh elections were a high probability because of the difficulty in forming a new government.

In another scenario, Netanyahu could try to pre-empt Kadima's plans to form the next government by mustering his own majority in parliament, either to form his own coalition or to move forward elections currently scheduled for 2010.

There is speculation that Kadima's hawkish transport minister, Shaul Mofaz, could attempt to form a fresh coalition with Netanyahu, a former prime minister.

Olmert, dogged by corruption scandals, announced yesterday that he would not take part in the Kadima leadership contest in September and would step down.

It may take his successor months to form a new coalition, meaning Olmert could remain in power as the interim prime minister, possibly until next year, if new elections were called.

An official close to Olmert said he prime minister would try to reach an agreement in peace talks with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, before a new Israeli government took office.

The official told Reuters that Olmert intended "reaching agreement with the Palestinians during the time he has left".

"Any agreement he reaches with the Palestinians won't be a personal agreement and he will make sure that the [new] Kadima leadership is briefed and on board," the official said.

Analysts, however, doubt that Olmert will have the political strength to make commitments, either in talks with Abbas or indirect negotiations with Syria.

The White House said its goal of getting Olmert and Abbas to reach a peace deal this year remained unchanged, but the prospects of a deal, given Israel's highly unsettled political situation, appear slim.