*breaking news* Sharon Starting a Centrist Party!

[Annie]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132320216266&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

Leaving Likud:

Sharon leaving Likud to form centrist party
Gil Hoffman, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 19, 2005

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will announce on Monday that he intends to quit the Likud and form a new centrist political party, sources close to Sharon said on Sunday.

Sharon is to visit President Moshe Katsav on Monday and ask him to dissolve the Knesset. This would set off a process that would lead to elections in 90 days, unless an MK succeeds in forming a new coalition within the next three weeks.

Sharon will not rely on a bill to disperse the Knesset that was set for Monday and delayed until Wednesday because Shas declined to remove its no-confidence motion from Monday's Knesset agenda.

The prime minister was due to make an announcement before Monday's Likud faction meeting.

Sharon met Sunday with Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Tourism Minister Avraham Hirchson, who have said they would follow him to a new party. Fourteen other Likud MKs have said they would join Sharon, including Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra, and Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit.

Following the reported departure, the entire political system bustled with responses. On the left side of the political spectrum, Meretz-Yahad Chairman Yossi Beilin saw the new political constellation as a victory for those who want to divide the land . "The split in the Likud creates a real opportunity for a coalition headed by the peace camp along with former Likud MKs who have finally understood that for 38 years they misled the nation and themselves and that the dream of the undivided land is a false one and is dangerous," Beilin said.

In the Labor Party, MK Yuli Tamir expressed her confidence that Sharon's departure from the Likud wouldn't harm Labor's prospects in the upcoming elections.

Shinui Chairman Yosef Lapid responded by addressing the center of the political map. He accused Sharon of not benefiting the middle class. He specifically stated that the prime minister did nothing to fight religious coercion. Lapid asserted that the true representative of the political center was Shinui, not Sharon.

One of those expected to follow Sharon to his new political party was Likud MK Majallie Whbee. "As I have accompanied Sharon over the last 12 years I will continue to offer him my hand in any way possible," he pledged, "so that we can, together with all the people who believe in his path, enable Sharon to be elected by a landslide."

In a sign that Sharon's departure from the Likud was imminent, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni met with Deputy Internal Security Minister Ya'acov Edri on Sunday and asked him to join a new Sharon party. Livni gave Edri the impression that Sharon had already decided to leave the Likud because the prime minister does not believe he can work with the Likud rebels in the next Knesset.

Edri told Livni that Sharon should remain in the Likud and work hard in the central committee to get his loyalists elected to the next Knesset instead of the rebels. Livni's spokesman later denied that she discussed the matter with Edri, while Edri said he had no idea what Sharon would decide.

In a meeting with Degel Hatorah MKs Sunday, Sharon said that his opponents in the Likud "can't wait to send me back to my ranch to run the farm."

Sharon is also expected to decide on Monday whether to accept the March 28 date for the elections agreed upon Sunday in a meeting between coalition chairman Gideon Sa'ar and Labor faction chairman Ephraim Sneh. When Sharon forms a new party, he may try to set an earlier date for the race to try to limit the time during which support for his new party could fall.

Sunday night, the most likely date for elections appeared to be Monday, March 6th. This date was considered most probable because it was the earlier than the other options. Formally, the law stipulates that elections be held on Tuesday. However March 7th was rejected since that is the memorial day for soldiers fallen in the line of duty whose resting place is unknown. The elections may therefore be made one day earlier instead of later in order to ensure that all the votes be counted by Shabbat.

The prime minister also met on Sunday with Shas, National Religious Party, Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael MKs. Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael were the only factions that did not agree to the March 28 date. Degel Hatorah MK Moshe Gafni said that the election should be delayed until after Passover.

When Sharon leaves the Likud, the race to succeed him as party chairman is expected to be tight. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Education Minister Limor Livnat and Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz announced that they would join former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Likud rebel leader Uzi Landau and party activist Moshe Feiglin in the race.

Netanyahu addressed Likud activists in Afula and Migdal Ha'emek on Sunday and he is expected to open his Tel Aviv campaign office later this week.

"I don't know what Sharon will decide but I am staying in the Likud," Netanyahu told supporters in Migdal Ha'emek. "A decision has to be made soon so we can all unite around the party's policies." Netanyahu Sunday called Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit, Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra and Edri and asked them to remain in the Likud.

Mofaz told a meeting Sunday of the Likud's ideological bureau in Netivot that he would stay in the Likud, while Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told reporters in Beersheba that he would "follow Sharon wherever he goes." Landau said that if Sharon quits the party, elections for the party's new leader should be held in a matter of days. He said that if elected party chairman, he would try to form a new rightist government that could finish the current government's term at its set date of November 2006.