Sharon quits far-right Likud gambling with centrist party in snap race

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has decided to quit the far-right Likud and form a new centrist party in a bold attempt to contest snap elections probably set for early next year.

Asaf Shariv, the media adviser in Sharon's office, told Xinhua Sunday night that Sharon was to visit President Moshe Katsav on Monday and ask him to dissolve the Knesset (parliament).

This will set off a process leading to elections in 60 days, unless a Knesset member succeeds in forming a new coalition within the next three weeks.

The revealing of Sharon's departure came alongside the vote by Israel's center-left Labor party to withdraw from Sharon's coalition government.

Sharon and Labor's newly-elected leader Amir Peretz have agreed to advance parliamentary elections from originally scheduled November 2006 to February or March in that year.

The 77-year-old "Ariel Sharon has dropped a bomb" in his gambling which may scramble the electoral picture ahead, according to Israel's Army Radio.

He was determined to try a new party after bitter squabbling with Likud he helped set up in 1973.

Likud hardliners have been opposing his so-called disengagement plan to give up Jewish settlements to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip while keeping major settlements in the West Bank.

Sharon's pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank, which was completed in September, caused an outcry among rebels in the Likud faction in parliament, where they withheld support for his government.

Although not sure that he can turn the popularity of the Gaza pullout into electoral victory, Sharon is looking to 14 of Likud's 40 lawmakers in his new party, including five cabinet ministers, according to Israeli politicians.

He even expects some prominent figures from Labor, such as veteran peacemaker and old coalition ally Shimon Peres, whose Nov. 10 defeat as Labor's chairman by Peretz triggered the political upheaval.

"Shimon, this is the beginning of our joint work," Sharon told the 82-year-old Peres during Sunday's cabinet meeting.

"I won't let you...turn away from completing the mission you are destined for. I will call on your assistance in the future," Sharon said.

While Sharon's new centrist party is expected to be softer than the far-right Likud party which opposes compromise with the Palestinians, its difference is obvious from the center-left Labor party, which stands for far-reaching concessions to the Palestinians.

Vowing to keep major West Bank settlements, Sharon has also ruled out talks on statehood unless the Palestinians disarm militants waging an uprising. By contrast, Labor is more active on the issue, saying the creation of a Palestinian state is in both Israel's and Palestinians' interests.

According to the weekend polls released by Israeli newspapers, Sharon is facing a gambling in the short elections, where Likud may become the main loser and Labor under its new leader Peretz could increase its strength.

Source: Xinhua