Israel to hold general elections on Feb. 10

Source: Xinhua | 10-31-2008 07:54

JERUSALEM, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Knesset (parliament) Speaker Dalia Itzik announced Thursday that the final date for the general elections is Feb. 10, local media reported.

Itzik said to House Committee Chairman David Tal, a Kadima member, that this is the date agreed upon by all house factions, according to the website of Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

The 17th Knesset's last working day will be Nov. 10.

Also on Thursday, Kadima leader Tzipi Livni assured Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz of her desire to see him placed as second in the party list and proposed that Mofaz head the party's primary elections staff, the website of local daily Jerusalem Post reported.

The two ministers agreed to work together and to promote party unity.

Meanwhile, during a meeting with Labor ministers, Labor Chairman Ehud Barak said the party will hold comprehensive primary elections, in which the party's 100,000 members will be eligible to vote.

Earlier this week, Livni, who received a presidential mandate in September to set up a new cabinet and was once expected to have good chances of success, abandoned her cabinet-making efforts and urged President Shimon Peres to call for an early general election.

Following consultations with party leaders, Peres said at the opening the parliament's winter session that it had become clear that none of the parliamentary factions were capable of building a coalition and thus the country would go to a general election.

Recent polls showed that the right-wing Likud would win the snap election, while a latest survey found that the three-year-old Kadima could retain its top position with a wafer-thin edge over Likud.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei