Labor Party leaders claimed Friday that Prof. Ephraim Katchalski has enough support in the Knesset to win him the presidency when the election takes place April 10. While some nervousness has been expressed in Labor Party quarters over the emergence of Prof. Ephraim Uhrbach as the candidate of Gahal and the National Religious Party, Katchalski’s backers appeared to have already done their lobbying well enough to assure him majority support in the Knesset election.
Labor Party officials claimed that the 57-year-old Weizmann Institute biophysicist already had more than the 63 votes required to win the election on the first ballot. They said 54 votes will come from the Labor Party – Mapam Alignment. Two Laborites are ill and will not be able to vote, otherwise Katchalski could count on 56 Labor votes. Four other votes will come from the Arab and Druze lists associated with the Labor Party. Another four votes from the Independent Liberals are considered assured. Independent Meir Avizohar is also held to be in the Katchalski camp.
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