Committee to investigate Bibi's failure to win more Knesset seats
Photo: Yaron Brenner
The Likud faction held a meeting in Tel Aviv Sunday evening and unanimously decided to set up an investigative committee to look into the the party's elections failure.
The makeup of the committee will be decided on in the future, and its conclusions will be submitted within 45 days.
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As Ynet reported on elections night, Knesset Member Michael Eitan demanded that a committee be set up in light of the former ruling party's dismal showing.
Netanyahu's main rival for Likud leadership, Silvan Shalom, was silent throughout the meeting.
Senior members in the Likud criticized the brief discussion of the party's failure during the session.
"After we crashed down to 12 mandates, holding a meeting for 10 minutes when everyone's tired is not serious," one Likud member said.
The Likud faction also discussed which candidate the party should recommend as prime minister in consultations with President Moshe Katsav. No decision was taken over the issue, and it was agreed that the matter be discussed again before Tuesday, when the president is scheduled to meet with faction representatives.
During the session, which lasted two and a half hours, it appeared that Netanyahu and MK Gideon Sa'ar were for pushing for a Peretz-led government.
Netanyahu said that a failure to decide on a favored candidate was tantamount to recommending Ehud Olmert.
However, Knesset Member Reuven Rivlin objected such move and called on Likud to head to the opposition, as did Knesset Member Moshe Kahlon.
Likud members who participated in the meeting said that the feeling was that the Likud must not disgrace itself and nominate Amir Peretz to assemble the government, due to the fact that Labor's position were far from the Likud's, and because there was no formal invitation from Labor to meet with the Likud.