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Last update - 07:32 04/10/2008
Sheetrit: Livni has 50-50 chance of forming government coalition
By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel News, Tzipi Livni 

Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) expressed cautious optimism Friday regarding newly elected Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni's chances of forming a government coalition.

"In my opinion, it stands at a 50-50 chance to form government, but the Labor Party and the Pensioners have no desire to go to elections," Sheetrit said.

Livni narrowly beat out rival Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz last month in the Kadima Party primary election, after which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert officially stepped down from his post in light of several corruption allegations. Livni will be named prime minister only if she can successfully recruit a majority of 61 MKs to her coalition, thus forming a stable government. If she fails to establish a coalition, general elections will be called.
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"Regretfully, those who make problems are the Labor Party and Shas, who are raising new demands that the previous government did not heed. I hope that Livni will succeed in creating a government that will continue to the end of its term. I certainly hope that Shas will regain their composure, because I don't understand what they will achieve from this."

Sheetrit spoke to Haaretz while in the U.S for talks aimed at achieving a visa waiver agreement for Israelis. He said he received positive signals regarding the initiative, despite the preoccupation in Washington with the current financial crisis.

"I received a positive readiness from Secretary of Homeland Security [Michael B.] Chertoff, and also from [Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs] William Burns. Their agreement is necessary for the initiative to advance, and both of them support the idea. All that remains is approval to bring Israel into the track that the U.S. has opened in the past for a few other countries [under visa waiver agreements]," he said.

Sheetrit said he expects an agreement to be signed in 2009, with Israel planning to issue new biometric passports by then - a key condition of the U.S. visa waiver program.

"It is absurd that the U.S. requires Israelis to have visas, when Americans are exempt from the need for a visa to Israel, and in many states around the world Israelis enter without visas," he said.


Related articles:
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  • Shas: If Livni wants a coalition, she must fulfill our demands
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