Mazuz to PM: Appoint minister promptly

Attorney general orders PM to pass appointment for permanent finance minister within week and a half. If Sharon fails, may be forced to disband Knesset

Tal Rosner
Published: 11.01.05, 10:40 / Israel News

The Attorney General Menachem Mazuz Monday stressed before the Government Secretary Israel Maimon that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon must appoint a permanent finance minister within the next week and a half.

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Sharon postponed the vote on the permanent appointment of Ehud Olmert for finance minister scheduled for Monday, after the PM failed to secure a majority for the vote, which included the appointments of MKs Ronny Bar-On and Ze'ev Boim for ministers as well.

According to the law, Sharon now faces two alternatives.

The first option is to pass a vote on a permanent appointment for finance minister, which should be carried out before November 9, the date that will mark three months since Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation from the post, and the appointment of Olmert as a temporary replacement.

The PM's other option is to resign, disband the Knesset and declare an interim government, in which he will be able to appoint ministers independent of parliamentary approval.

Sharon in a tight spot

Sharon's failure to obtain the Knesset's support for the appointment put him in a difficult condition.

The attorney general has already rejected two solutions contrived by the PM's associates as way out of the problem.

One was to appoint another temporary minister for a period of three months, the other to turn the post over to the hands of Sharon himself.

Since the law fails to state what should happen in a situation in which the PM is unable to appoint a permanent minister, the government secretary requested Monday the attorney general's opinion on such a scenario, asking him to specify the consequences in the event that the Knesset again turns down Olmert's appointment.

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