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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Israel To Hold Watershed Elections In May Campaigning Starts Immediately, Focusing On Peace Process

New York Times

Prime Minister Shimon Peres formally confirmed Sunday his intention to hold national elections in May instead of October, launching a race that will focus intensely on peace and personalities.

The campaigning broke out almost the moment that Peres made his announcement on an 8 p.m. television news program, citing his need for a fresh mandate after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

At virtually the same time, the leader of the conservative Likud opposition party, Benjamin Netanyahu, said at a news conference that if he comes to power, he would slow down the peace effort and return Israel to traditional Jewish values.

Elsewhere in Jerusalem, Natan Sharansky marked 10 years since his arrival in Israel from a Soviet prison by announcing that he would lead a new political party in the race, one of several small parties which will play critical roles in shaping a ruling coalition once the voting is finished.

Though every national election in Israel’s brief and boisterous history has been contested viciously and has been critical, many commentators have written that this one may rank among the most important and complex. There are two main reasons why.

The first is that the central issue is continuation of the dramatic process that has brought peace with Jordan and the Palestinians over the past three years.

Peres essentially is running on his record as the chief architect of that peace, promising to press forward toward peace with Syria and toward a final settlement with the Palestinians.

But Netanyahu declared Sunday that he would not give the Golan Heights back to Syria and would not “rush forward” in talks with the Palestinians.

The second factor setting these elections apart from all previous ones is that for the first time, voters will elect the prime minister separately from Parliament. In the past, the leader of the party that got the most seats in Parliament became the head of the government.