Likud voter turnout climbs to 60 percent (Election re: coalition with Labour, religious parties)

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 9 December 2004 | GIL HOFFMAN

[anotherview]

Likud voter turnout climbs to 60 percent

By GIL HOFFMAN

PM: "Either Israel progresses or goes to elections. It's simple: Those who don't vote, sink the boat."

PM threatens to call early elections
Photo: AP

All 26 polling stations at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds opened on time Thursday, after Tel Aviv District Court Judge Uri Goren rejected a petition from Likud 'rebels' trying to block the vote on widening the coalition.

As planned, voting began at 10 a.m., with polls scheduled to close twelve hours later. Results are expected at midnight.

Low voter turnout lasted throghout Thursday, causing concern to the prime minister's associates, as the people most likely to vote are the hardcore disengagement protesters. According to unofficial figures, by 3:18 p.m., a little over five hours into the vote, only 715 of the 2930 Likud central committee members (24.6 percent) had bothered to vote. The figures were not much more impressive eight hours into the vote when by 6:30 p.m. only 40% had cast their votes.

However, efforts by Sharon's supporters to get Likud central committee members to vote were bearing fruit, as the voter turnout topped 60 percent close to 9:00 p.m., according to a Channel 2 TV report.

The proposal being voted on would authorize Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to negotiate with Labor, Shas and United Torah Judaism to create a prospective coalition of 77 MKs. The vote comes four months after the convention rejected Sharon's request to negotiate with "all Zionist parties" in August.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon marks his ballot at the Likud party meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday Dec.9, 2004.
Photo: AP

"It is important that everyone comes here today to vote and contribute to the progress of the state of Israel," Sharon said Thursday afternoon, shortly before he cast his vote at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds.

In a clear warning that he will call early general elections if the Likud central committee fails to approve the formation of a coalition with Labor, Sharon said: "Either Israel progresses or goes to [general] elections. It's simple: Those who don't vote, sink the boat. What is important is to come here and cast a ballot."

Sharon's associates said that if the proposal passes, and if the Labor party approves initiating negotiations at the Labor convention this Sunday, them the prime minister will invite Labor chairman Shimon Peres and invite him to begin talks right away.

A loss could force new elections and jeopardize the Gaza withdrawal - a centerpiece of efforts to restart peace talks with the Palestinians in the wake of Yasser Arafat's death.

Speaking on Army Radio Thursday morning, Sharon said that Likud ministers made a "clear decision" to widen and stabilize the government. "I hope that Likud members show up and vote, and support my proposal."

When it comes to finalizing a deal with the parties, though, Sharon said that he does not plan to bring the coalition agreement to the Likud for approval.

"From a judicial perspective, such a step is not necessary. Even today's vote I am only holding for the sake of unity in the party. It is untenable to have a government hamstrung by having to bring each and every decision to this or that forum. This is something that has never taken place in Israel before during any government, and the time has come to put this issue to rest and allow the state of Israel to go forward. There is nothing more to explain, nothing more to discuss. The government of Israel approved the unilateral disengagement plan and the withdrawal from Gaza. The Knesset approved it by a large majority," Sharon said.

"There are historic opportunities before us now, and a clear opportunity to improve Israel's situation," Sharon told reporters in the Knesset Wednesday evening. "We can achieve goals that were never before possible. This is why I will not allow anyone to thwart the possibility of fulfilling these opportunities. I simply do not intend to allow it, and I will not allow a departure from the goals that the State of Israel can achieve in the year 2005."

Sharon spent most of Wednesday making phone calls to key Likud activists and meeting his top allies in the Likud central committee. He intends to continue making calls on Thursday until polls close, in an effort to convince at least 2,000 of the 2,900 convention members to come out to vote.

The so-called Likud rebels and the party's Jewish Leadership ideological group, which worked hard to defeat Sharon in the August coalition vote and in the May referendum on disengagement, decided against making an active effort in Thursday's vote, calling it a "lost cause." But behind the scenes, a quiet effort has been made to get out the vote among disengagement opponents.

"Not being allowed to present an alternative proposal proves once again, unfortunately, that the Likud is run by bullying and not by democracy," rebel leader MK Uzi Landau said. "Listen to Labor saying that this will be a unilateral disengagement government with elections right after. Is this the stable government that we want?"

Speaking on Israel Radio Thursday morning, Landau would prefer joining with the National Religious Party and the ultra-orthodox parties, and putting off the disengagement plan for a few months, to wait out the possibility that, with new leadership in the Palestinian Authority, the plan can be carried out bilaterally.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz convened a mass gathering of Likud activists on Wednesday night at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, in his first major Likud event since entering politics two and a half years ago. He called on convention members to vote in favor of widening the coalition.

"Another election now will harm the Likud and the state of Israel," Mofaz said. "The competition will put the political system into a dangerous schism. I am convinced that a stable and strong national-unity government with Shas and UTJ is needed now for the Likud and the people of Israel."

Mofaz, who is planning a future run for the Likud leadership, spent most of the address attacking the frontrunner to eventually succeed Sharon, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He said the Likud has strayed from its purpose of advancing social issues.

Sources close to Netanyahu responded that "instead of drifting into populism, we would expect Mofaz to show responsibility and seriousness on economic and social issues. Mofaz knows that the fat in the IDF is one of the main causes preventing money from going to social issues, and he refused Netanyahu's request to cut from his own budget to help the weakest sectors of the population."

Netanyahu intends to convince his supporters to vote despite his concern that Labor will try to make too many changes to his economic reforms.

Despite the fact that she challenged Sharon on the disengagement plan when it came up for vote in the Knesset, demanding a national referendum on the issue, Education Minister Limor Livnat fully backs the prime minister on the unity proposal. Speaking to Israel Radio Thursday morning, Livnat emphasized the importance of stabilizing the government and the country, instead of bringing it to a breaking point.

Sharon spoke to Peres on Wednesday morning and they wished each other well in dealing with their problems within their own parties.

Asked if Labor would join the coalition until the end of the term, Sharon said, "I assume that a party that joins a government does not do so to leave right away."

Labor is divided over whether to join the government for its duration or to decide in advance that the party will leave the coalition as soon as a Gaza withdrawal is completed. The main dispute is between Peres, who wants to stay in, and his Labor rival, former prime minister Ehud Barak. An internal Labor court rejected Peres's appeal to avoid a Labor central committee vote on Sunday that would set a date for the next Labor leadership race. After losing the appeal, Peres is expected to appeal to the Tel Aviv District Court. Peres does not want a date for the Labor race set until the party joins the coalition.

"[Labor] looks bad because there are people who want us to look bad," Peres told reporters in the Knesset cafeteria.

"We must decide on a date only after we know whether there will be a national-unity government. If we join the government, there is no reason to move up the race. No serious coalition negotiations would be able to take place until after the race ends. But if we don't join, we should have the race as soon as possible."

If Sharon wins Thursday's vote, Peres is expected to convene Labor's executive committee to authorize coalition negotiations on Saturday night. Peres wants talks with the Likud to begin before the Labor central committee decision.

Labor leadership contender Matan Vilna'i wrote a letter to Labor central committee members on Wednesday, asking them to support setting a date for the leadership race.

"There are those who say that because we are entering the government, we should delay the election date, but I say the opposite," Vilna'i wrote. "Specifically because we are entering the unity trap, we must be ready at any moment to face the voters with an elected leadership, and not begin an internal battle ahead of the election."

[My2Cents]

"It's simple: Those who don't vote, sink the boat."

Who's the Likud spokesman? Johnny Cochran?

[anotherview]

That is a translation of a comment by Prime Minister Sharon.