Oct 26, 2008, 20:59 GMT
Jerusalem - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told President Shimon Peres Sunday that she had failed in her attempt to form a new government, and recommended the president call new elections.
A handout photograph supplied by the Israeli Government Press Office (GPO ) on 26 October 2008 shows Israeli Foreigin Minister Tzii Livni (R) and President Shimon Peres meeting in the President's Jerusalem residence on 26 October 2008 as she suggests that the country go to new elections. EPA/AMOS BEN GERSHOM
'I told the president that under present circumstances we should go to elections,' she said in a brief announcement after meeting Peres.
Livni had originally been slated to meet with Peres several hours earlier, but postponed the session at the request of Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, leading to reports of last-minute mediation, possibly by Peres himself, to resolve the political impasse.
Peres now has three days in which to consult with other legislators to see if anyone else can form a coalition. If no other lawmaker can form a government, new elections must be held after 90 days.
The president began consultations on Sunday night, meeting with the Shas, Likud and Kadima parties. He was set to meet Monday morning with the remaining factions in the Knesset.
Of the two options, elections look the most likely.
The head of Livni's Kadima faction, Yoel Hason, said he planned on presenting a law on Monday to dissolve the Knesset.
Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu has said he prefers going to new elections, which polls show his hawkish Likud party winning, while Defence Minister Ehud Barak, head of the Labour Party, cannot become prime minister at this point under Israeli law, as he is not a Knesset member.
Netanyahu said Sunday he planned on winning the next elections and setting up a wide coalition government.
Livni also told local media she saw herself leading Kadima to victory and being responsible for forming the next government.
'The nation will decide,' she told Israel's Channel 1. Livni defended her inability to get together a coalition saying parties in the house made demands she could not meet.
Livni's announcement also throws into question the future of the peace process with the Palestinians. She has been heading the Israeli team in the talks, and it is uncertain how she will continue to manage this with running an election campaign.
But while the Likud and other hawkish parties could make political capital of any perceived Israeli concessions to the Palestinians in the talks, arriving at polling day with a draft deal with the Palestinians could also give Livni the fillip she needs to boost her and her party's chances.
Livni, tasked by Peres on September 22 with forming a new coalition, apparently decided on Saturday night to recommend new elections, after two ultra-Orthodox parties ruled out sitting in a new coalition since she had not met their demands.
She said she was 'at peace' with the decision, the YNet news site reported Sunday morning.
'I decided not to give in, and this is what the president will hear from me,' she added, in response to demands that she raise child allowance benefits and give a commitment that she would not negotiate the future of Jerusalem.
'I was faced with impossible demands and I had to put a stop to it. I was willing to show my respect and allot budgets for goals I could agree with, but when it turned out the coalition talks were used as grounds for illegitimate demands and extortion, I decided to put a stop to it,' YNet quoted her as telling her Kadima faction before Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting.
The Jerusalem Post daily quoted her as telling advisors Saturday night that 'I'm sick of this extortion.'
Livni replaced interim Premier Ehud Olmert as leader of the ruling Kadima party on September 17.
Although she managed to sign a new agreement with the Labour Party, Kadima's current main coalition partner, negotiations with another crucial coalition faction, the ultra-Orthodox Shas, failed to make progress.
Livni adamantly refused Shas' demand to allocate an extra 1.5 billion Israeli shekels (some 400 million dollars) in the 2009 budget for child allowances.
She also nixed a demand by the party, whose electorate is made up of mainly of religious, hawkish lower-income voters, to commit that she would not discuss the future of Jerusalem in her talks with the Palestinians.
She said Sunday afternoon that while she was prepared to pay a price to form a coalition, she was not prepared to 'mortgage' Israel's economic and political future.
'There are some prices that can be paid, and there are prices that others are willing to pay, but I am not,' she said.
Shas announced Friday it would not be joining a Livni-led coalition, and on Saturday night a smaller ultra-Orthodox faction, whose support Livni needed to form a narrow coalition, also announced that it would not join her coalition.
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