JERUSALEM: Israel’s scandal-tainted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned yesterday, setting the stage for more weeks of political turmoil as the horse-trading begins to form a new government.
Olmert, who is battling a host of corruption allegations, handed a brief letter to President Shimon Peres announcing that “in line with his commitments, he is submitting his resignation,” the president’s office said.
Peres, who now has a week to designate the party leader who will form the next government, paid tribute to Olmert for his work “for the people and the state of Israel.”
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who replaced Olmert as head of the centrist Kadima party in a leadership vote on Wednesday, is hoping to become only the second woman prime minister in the nation’s history. “I have decided to end my functions as prime minister of the government of Israel,” Olmert, who has been in power for 31 months, told a cabinet meeting earlier yesterday.
Olmert’s move initiates what could be a months-long process to form a new government, casting a shadow over peace talks with the Palestinians and further denting hopes of a deal by the end of this year.
Peres is due to hold talks with Kadima representatives today, the local media said The 62-year-old Olmert, who is likely to stay on as interim premier, had first announced on July 30 he would step down to battle a number of corruption allegations.
Police have recommended criminal charges against him in two cases where he is accused of accepting large sums of cash from a US financier and multiple-billing of foreign trips.
Peres is expected to give Livni 42 days to form a government and try to prevent a snap general election, which opinion polls indicate would bring the right-wing Likud party headed by former Premier Benjamin Netanyahu to power.
