Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the newly elected opposition Labor Party Chairman ‘Amir Peretz met on Thursday to agree on a date for the parliamentary elections. Minutes before the meeting, Sharon gave an interview to the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, where he said that “in the complex and complicated reality the state is at, I have no intention of heading a minority government for long months… We’ll go to the people as soon as February.”
During the 20-minute meeting, the two agreed to hold the elections between the end of February and the beginning of March. “I believe that if we arrive at the Knesset on Monday with an agreed upon date, this will bring calm to the political system, and settle the markets,” said Peretz.
During the meeting, Sharon told Peretz he was making a big mistake bringing forward the elections. Nevertheless, said Sharon, “since you have decided to disperse the government, I will not wait. There is a lot to be done, and so we have to go to elections as soon as possible.”