Premier Menachem Begin was pondering resignation tonight following a tie vote in the Knesset on a no-confidence motion submitted by the opposition Labor Party critical of the government’s policies on the West Bank.
The 58-58 tie does not require the government to resign but Begin had said earlier that he would quit in the event of a tie vote because it would deprive his coalition government of its moral mandate. He convened an emergency Cabinet meeting tonight after the Knessemet where, according to late reports, he was recommending his government’s resignation. His fellow ministers reportedly were urginghim to hang-on.
The unexpected tie vote was reached by the defection of MK Haim Druckman of the National Religious Party who broke with the coalition to vote with the ultra-nationalist Tehiya faction against the government. Druckman, a leader of the movement to stop the withdrawal from Sinai, resigned from a sub-Cabinet post recently because of the Sinai issue, although he remained in the NRP.
Tehiya is vehemently apposed to withdrawal from Sinai, due to be completed on April 25 and opposed the government on that ground although it was not part of the no-confidence motion. The two-man Telem faction, founded by the late.Moshe Dayan, also voted against the government although it had been expected to abstain. The bulk of the anti-government votes came from the Labor Alignment, the small leftist Shinui faction and the Hodash (Communist) Party.
If Begin resigns he will nevertheless continue to head a care-taker government pending new elections which could be held in three months.
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