Last update - 00:00 04/01/2008
Barak considers calling for early elections by end of 2008
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Labor Party chief Ehud Barak is considering a call for early elections by the end of 2008 after the release of the final report of the Winograd Committee on the Second Lebanon War, expected in the next few weeks.
Senior Labor officials told Haaretz Thursday that in recent days Barak, who is also defense minister, raised the idea during talks with other Labor ministers and MKs.
Sources close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said they expect him to reject any proposal for early elections, but cannot say what Olmert's stance will be following the release of the final report.
Barak is expected next week to hold a meeting with a number of Labor MKs who have called on the party to leave the coalition government immediately after the release of the final report.
Government sources expect the report to be released in mid-January.
Barak has not yet discussed with Olmert the possibility of calling early elections. His official stance is that the elections, which under normal circumstances would be held in the autumn of 2010, should not be moved forward.
Olmert's 77 MK-strong coalition may fall if Labor with its 19 MKs leaves.
Last year Barak made a public promise, before being elected Labor chairman, that he would seek to expedite the elections after the publication of the committee's final report.
According to the same senior Labor sources, Barak has raised the possibility of holding early elections in November this year, with an option for delaying them to January 2009. But the sources also insisted that he has not yet finalized his position on this and for now is evaluating the extent Labor ministers and MKs support such a scenario.
In a response Thursday, the Defense Minister's Office issued a statement saying that following the release of the final report, Barak "will formulate his position on the basis of what is good for Israel. All the other considerations are bogus."
Some of those who participated in a meeting of Labor ministers Thursday night said that Barak has retained a position of ambiguity regarding his next moves until after the publication of the final report.
"Everything is still open," Barak said. "We must study the report and then we will see what is the right thing to do."
Two camps are taking form in the Labor Party: those who support leaving the government immediately after the committee's final report, and those who oppose such a move. Among the first group, are MK Eitan Cabel and MK Ophir Pines-Paz. The second group includes a number of Labor ministers such as Minister without portfolio Ami Ayalon, Education Minister Yuli Tamir, Minister of Science, Culture and Sport Ghaleb Majadele, and Social Affairs Minister Yitzhak Herzog.
However, senior party sources maintain that the two groups are likely to reach agreement on moving the elections forward by the end of the year.
For his part, Olmert is also preparing for the release of the report, and has met with MKs from his party Kadima to rally support.
Among those he met are MKs known for their opposition to his leadership such as the former coalition chairman, MK Avigdor Itzhaki, who called for Olmert's resignation following the release of the Winograd Committee's interim report last spring.
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