Cabinet Agrees to Hold Elections July 7; a Bill to That Effect Will Be Presented to the Knesset

The Cabinet decided today to dissolve the Knesset and hold elections on July 7. A bill to that effect will be presented to the Knesset this week but a major battle is looming with the opposition Labor Party which wants to go to the polls at an earlier date.

A Labor spokesman said today that the Alignment could not support the government’s proposed date, noting that July is the vacation season when many Israelis will be out of the country. “This proves that Likud fears the decision of the voters,” the spokesman said.

According to Moshe Shahal, chairman of the Labor Alignment Knesset faction, the opposition will insist on holding elections no later than June 30. He warned that if no agreement can be reached with Likud, Labor would introduce an election bill of its own this week. The Shinui Knesset faction announced that if several election dates are proposed, it would support the earliest one.

The July 7 date was arrived at after prolonged deliberations by the ministers. The National Religious Party is known to have wanted to postpone elections even further but was apparently convinced that a later date would not win approval of the Knesset.

BEGIN CONFIDENT OF LIKUD VICTORY

Begin, who personally announced the decision to waiting reporters after the Cabinet session, said he would lead Likud in the election campaign “if my friends express confidence in me.” He insisted that despite public opinion polls that show a Labor victory in the next elections, Likud had a fair chance of winning based on its record. “All the issues will be debated–foreign policy, economic polices, social improvements and all other problems,” Begin said. “In an election campaign there is never one issue.”

He also believes that the election campaign would not impair continuation of the autonomy talks with Egypt and the U.S. “But that depends on other parties to the negotiations.”

The Cabinet did not decide today on a successor to Finance Minister Yigal Hurwitz whose resignation last Sunday precipitated the government crisis and the need for early elections. Begin’s favored candidate, Communications Minister Yoram Aridor, a member of Herut, did not win the confidence of the Cabinet. Energy Minister Yitzhak Modai insisted that the new Finance Minister come from the ranks of the Liberal Party and Begin agreed. The Liberals were angered in 1979 when Begin shunted aside then Finance Minister Simcha Ehrlich in order to install Hurwitz in his job.

Modai proposed no candidate. One Liberal possibility, Yisrael Saharov, dropped out of the race. Others still in the running are Minister of Commerce and Industry Gideon Patt, former Deputy Finance Minister Yehezkel Flomin, or Modai himself. Whoever is named will serve a car-taker regime which is not likely to introduce major policy innovations. Begin said the choice would be the subject of consultations and that he hoped the “problem could be solved this week.”