The Labor Central Committee on Friday accepted the proposal of Amir Peretz, the party chairman and defense minister, to delay a decision on whether Labor should quit the government until three weeks after the May 28 party primaries.

If no candidate gets the necessary percentage of votes, a second round of voting could be held in mid-June.

In deciding to delay its decision, the central committee rejected a competing proposal by chairmanship candidate MK Ophir Pines-Paz calling on the party to announce immediately that it will not remain in a government headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

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The committee also decided Friday to approve Labor MK Colette Avital as the party's presidential candidate. Her candidacy is expected to take votes away from Shimon Peres, a longtime Laborite but current Kadima member.