Orthodox elements in the government coalition insisted today on roundtable negotiations among all the parties in the coalition on the composition of the new cabinet following the retirement of David Ben Gurion as Prime Minister. Spokesmen for the Mizrachi and Mizrachi Labor groups told a press conference today that they would not participate in bipartisan negotiations with other parties.
Representatives of the Mapai and General Zionist Parties met late last night for the first time to discuss the composition of a new coalition cabinet. Another meeting in what is expected to be a lengthy series, is scheduled for tomorrow. No information was available on what either side was prepared to give and take in the formation of a cabinet.
The Progressive Party has declared officially that it would not participate in any coalition cabinet replacing that headed by Mr. Ben Gurion unless the Mapai and General Zionists agreed to abandon the provision of their coalition agreement providing for adoption of a new election law which would deny seats in Parliament to any party receiving less than 10 percent of the total vote cast in a general election. If this agreement is abandoned, the Progressives would rejoin the government and would name Dr. Pinchas Rosen, former Minister of Justice, as the party’s representative in the cabinet.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
