Sharon Agrees to Call Snap Poll After Threat From Labour

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, yesterday agreed to call a general election in about three months after meeting Amir Peretz, the new leader of his major coalition partner, to discuss the Labour party's withdrawal from the government.

Mr Peretz had threatened that Labour would force a no-confidence vote in parliament if there was no agreement. Mr Sharon will announce the election date, expected to be in late February or the beginning of March, after consulting his own Likud party early next week.

Yosef Lapid, head of the opposition Shinui party, said he and Mr Sharon had agreed to hold the ballot in March. Mr Sharon also has to decide whether to seek re-election as the Likud leader or to launch a third party because of a deep split within Likud caused by his closure of Jewish settlements in the Gaza strip.

The prime minister had been leaning towards leaving Likud because opinion polls showed the party membership unseating him as leader in favour of his arch-rival, Binyamin Netanyahu. But Mr Peretz's surprise defeat of Shimon Peres last week has given Labour a boost in the polls and appears to have focused Likud's attention on whether they want to dump their best electoral asset.

Mr Sharon told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper he wanted an early election. "We must do this as quickly as possible, so as not to turn 2006 into a lost year from the standpoint of the diplomatic process, as well as from an economic standpoint," he said. "We have many things on our agenda: the war on violence, promoting education and the war on poverty."

Mr Peretz intends to try to shift the focus of the election campaign away from the Palestinians and security issues, which provide the core of voter support for Mr Sharon, to social issues such as reversing deep cuts to welfare programmes. Mr Peretz is also emphasising the financial cost of the occupation and conflict.

The latest polls give Mr Sharon a 15% lead over Mr Netanyahu in the Likud leadership contest. Mr Sharon's position has been bolstered by other surveys that show that if he remains leader, Likud would remain the largest party in parliament, while under Mr Netanyahu's leadership it would be forced into second or third place if Mr Sharon launches a new party.

Police are investigating the discovery of graffiti on the walls of the toilets in parliament threatening Mr Sharon's life. "We killed Rabin, we will kill Sharon," said one threat, referring to the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin 10 years ago.