Sharon seeks early elections

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon quit his right-wing Likud party yesterday to lead a new centrist party into early national elections, taking a gamble likely to reshape Israeli politics for years to come.

Mr Sharon's announcement, hours after he asked President Moshe Katsav to dissolve parliament and order elections, could free him of far-right constraints in pursuing an end to conflict with the Palestinians.

But opinion polls said the success of a Sharon-led centrist party was uncertain, and the 77-year-old former general could face an uphill battle against more established factions in elections, likely to take place in March.

Mr Sharon said the new party - so far unnamed - would aim for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but he ruled out further unilateral withdrawals from occupied land after his Gaza Strip pullout, which sparked a rebellion in Likud's ranks.

"We will work to set the permanent border of the nation while insisting on the dismantling of terrorist groups," Mr Sharon said in his first public address since leaving Likud, which he co-founded three decades ago.

Mr Sharon said he would stick to a US-backed peace "road map" that calls for an end to violence and charts steps towards creation of a Palestinian state, including the disarming of Palestinian militants and an end to Jewish settlement expansion.

Mr Sharon has said peace negotiations stalled by five years of bloodshed cannot resume until the Palestinian Authority forces militants to lay down their arms and dismantles militant groups.

In a terse letter to Likud's acting chairman, Mr Sharon wrote: "I am resigning from the party and forming a new one."

Later, Mr Sharon said he took the decision "after many doubts". Mr Sharon announced with a relaxed smile that 14 people had already joined him in the new group. He did not name them or say whether they were all from Likud.

Many in Likud saw the Gaza pullout, completed in September, as a surrender to violence.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian Deputy Prime Minster Nabil Shaath said the Palestinian leadership was "watching carefully the unfolding political developments to see its consequences on the peace process".

Mr Katsav said he would begin consultations immediately with political leaders on holding elections not constitutionally required until November next year.

Legislators later approved a preliminary vote to dissolve parliament by 84-0. If three other votes are approved, possibly today, then an election is automatically held within 90 days and there is no need for Mr Katsav to call it.

Labour Party leader Amir Peretz said he favoured March 28 polls. The fiery trade union chief's ouster of elder statesman Shimon Peres in a party vote on November 10 and vow to pull out of Mr Sharon's coalition touched off the political turmoil.

"We do not intend to win the elections by catching the Likud with its pants down. We want to win because we have a better platform and we bring something else to the equation," Mr Peretz told reporters.

If Mr Katsav dissolves parliament or if it votes to dissolve itself, Mr Sharon would remain as interim prime minister until a new one is elected.

Likud's acting chairman, Tzachi Hanegbi, said the party would choose a leader quickly. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who quit as finance minister over the Gaza pullout, is a top contender.

Political analyst Gerald Steinberg said Mr Sharon was in a strong position as "the only credible leader with a national base". But he added: "On the other hand this is totally new territory and third parties have not done well in the past."

Mr Sharon has also been wooing Mr Peres, 82. Meir Ben-Shaul, a 63-year-old Jerusalem electrician who said he had voted for Likud in three elections, was unimpressed by the possibility of another Sharon-Peres partnership.

"They are two old people. They should go home and play with the children and grandchildren," Mr Ben-Shaul told Reuters.