PM will resign before primaries if indicted, aides say

Less than a day after announcing he would not take part in the upcoming Kadima primary elections, and step down to make way for his successor, aides close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Thursday

that should the Prosecution choose to indict him before the primaries, he would immediately tender his resignation.

Olmert made no reference to the possibility of being indicted before a new chairman is elected to take his place at the helm of Kadima. The primaries scheduled for September 17th.

However the resignation of a prime minister could potentially hurl the political system into utter chaos, forcing President Shimon Peres to task an 'outside' MK with the job of forming a government.

The likelihood of Peres choosing Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni or Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, Olmert's chief contenders at Kadima, to step in is low – so as not to award one of them an unfair advantage in the primaries.

To prevent this from happening Olmert could declare himself temporarily suspended, allowing the primary elections to go ahead unimpeded while allowing another minister from his party – Vice Premier Haim Ramon, for example, to keep coveted seat warm.

However the chances of an indictment being filed against Olmert before the primaries are also considerably slim. This despite the fact that State Prosecutor Moshe Lador has said he intends to submit

his recommendation in the case against Olmert within several short weeks.

The prime minister will face police investigators on Friday morning in Jerusalem for his fourth, and some have said toughest, interrogation.

Three months ago Olmert declared he would resign if Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided to indict him. "Even though the law does not require me to do so," he said at the time.