Premier Shimon Peres said Tuesday that he will submit his resignation to President Chaim Herzog on October 10 so that Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir can take office as Prime Minister on October 14, the date set by the Labor-Likud rotation of power agreement.
Peres explained to high school students in Hadera that October 10 is the latest he can resign because the 11th is a Sabbath, the 12th is Kol Nidre night and the 13th is Yom Kippur. Therefore he will call on Herzog a week from next Friday so that the President can ask Shamir to form a government immediately after the holidays.
According to Israeli practice, the entire Cabinet resigns with the Prime Minister. Peres said discussions will be held next week on the allocation of portfolios in the new national unity government. Few changes are expected apart from the exchange of jobs between Peres and Shamir.
Peres will make his last trip abroad as Prime Minister next week when he goes to Paris to meet with President Francois Mitterrand during ceremonies marking the opening of the Ben Gurion centennial year.
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