Premier Menachem Begin today reversed his stand on early elections. His office issued a statement saying that there was no need to hold the elections for the 10th Knesset earlier than their legal date — November, 1981.
The statement was in contrast to remarks mode by Begin during the Cabinet session yesterday in favor of early elections, next May or June. Those remarks were quickly interpreted by political analysts as the first shot in the 1981 elections, and caused an immediate general stirring in the political community.
Although Begin’s statement came a propose consultations with Deputy Premier Simcha Ehrlich — it now seems that they were not sufficiently thought out. Influential at the Likud argued that agreeing to hold early elections — as the opposition has demanded for some time — the Likud actually admitted its own weakness.
Begin’s statement at the Cabinet meeting was made in passing, although Ehrlich said after the Cabinet session that he and Begin decided on that direction a few weeks ago in discussions they held. According to Ehrlich, a member of the Liberal Party, Begin and he felt that the Likud coalition would do better to seize the initiative and schedule an election on its terms rather than wait to face defections by members of small coalition factions and no-confidence motions by the Labor Alignment opposition.
Leading Likud members, however, argued today that agreeing to hold early elections, as the opposition has demanded for some time, would be tantamount to having the Likud admit that it was in a weak position.
BACKGROUND OF BEGIN’S REMARKS
Begin’s remarks yesterday were originally understood as an attempt to prevent the downfall of the government due to an offensive by the Alignment. The government now has a narrow majority of two in the 120-member Knesset. The Democratic Movement is scheduled to convene later this week, following the resignation last week of Justice Minister Shmuel Tamir, with renewed demands to quit the coalition, which could bring the government down. In the National Religious Party there are also strong voices in favor of early elections. Thus, there was a growing feeling in government circles that the crisis could come at any minute — and this was the background of the discussions between Begin and Ehrlich, and last weekend with NRP leader Interior Minister Yosef Burg.
There is a growing support for early elections in the NRP due to the bitter rivalry between Labor Party leaders Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin. Originally, the NRP refrained from pushing toward early elections for fear the Alignment might win a total majority in the elections and would no longer need the NRP to form a coalition. However, the general assumption in the NRP now is that due to the Peres-Rabin rivalry, the Alignment would not be able to form the next Cabinet without the support of the NRP.
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