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Photo: Amir Cohen
Shalom. 'Elections results not yet sealed'
Photo: Amir Cohen

MK Shalom: Labor-Likud coalition plausible

In election rally, former foreign minister says 'whoever thinks elections are sealed is mistaken.' Knesset Chairman Rivlin compares Kadima's list to Mussolini's

Former Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom (Likud) said Sunday that "a coalition between Labor Party and the Likud is plausible."

 

Speaking at an election rally in the Haifa area, Shalom added that "we have served in a government with the Labor Party, and there is no reason we cannot do it again. Whoever thinks that these elections are sealed is mistaken."

 

Shalom perceives that Kadima's advantage, when it comes to the number of Knesset seats it could receive in the elections, does not ensure Kadima being in the government.

 

"Even if Kadima gets 35 Knesset seats, who will recommend to the President that it forms a new government? Meretz? The religious parties? All of them could reach 48 seats at the most. On the other hand, a coalition of 78 mandates could stand," he said.

 

"I believe that on elections night, the party headquarters will not be able to hold all the people who will come to celebrate," he added.


Netanyahu and Rivlin at election rally (Photo: Ahiya Raved)

 

In another election rally, several hundreds of people gathered from all over the north to welcome Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu. Twenty of them were dressed in white overalls, reminiscent of the operation to free the hostages from a Sabena airliner, in which Netanyahu and Ehud Barak took part.

 

Netanyahu said he was surprised to see the people dressed in overalls, stating that it is more pleasant to see them in an election rally, rather than on a wing of hijacked plane.

 

The Likud chairman repeated his plan to reassign the election of Likud members from the Likud Central Committee to all party members, stating that the move will not lower the importance of the Likud Central Committee, which will remain the top organization in the party.

 

Netanyahu's iron wall

 

According to Netanyahu, the planned shift is publicly significant since it benefits from a wide public support. The public, he said, wrongly perceives the Central Committee as a corrupt body.

 

"Clearly, the vast majority of the Central Committee members are decent, honest people who work hard for the party," he added.

 

Netanyahu went on to talk about his plans to fight Hamas, if and when he is elected as prime minister. He repeated his plan, which he calls "the iron wall," according to which no funds will be transferred to the Palestinian Authority, no land will be returned to the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian laborers will be banned from entering Israel.

 

Knesset Chairman Reuven Rivlin, who appeared with Netanyahu in the rally, chose not to refer to the Labor Party, but rather to slam Kadima. Rivlin compared Kadima's list of candidates to no other than the list of the Italian Parliament constituted by the dictator Benito Mussolini.

 

According to Rivlin, like Kadima's list, Mussolini's list was not elected but appointed by a leader. Rivlin also added that Kadima's list is comprised of people the Likud rejected.

 

The Knesset chairman also repeated the Likud's election slogan, according to which Olmert is not Sharon and that Olmert will divide Jerusalem. Rivlin added that he knows Olmert since his early days in the Knesset.

 

"Sharon appointed him as his replacement because he had to compensate him after he promised him the position of foreign minister and reneged, and then promised him the position of finance minister and reneged. He (Sharon) was certain he would be the prime minister until the year 2017," Rivlin said.

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.26.06, 23:37
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