ISRAEL:DOGGED BY mounting corruption charges, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert yesterday announced that he will not compete in the leadership primary for the ruling Kadima party, to be held in mid-September, and that he will resign as soon as the party has chosen a new leader.
"I have decided I won't run in the Kadima primaries, nor do I intend to intervene in the elections," Mr Olmert announced at a surprise, prime-time press conference in Jerusalem yesterday evening.
"Once the party has chosen a new leader, I will resign from my post as prime minister to enable them to put together a new government swiftly and effectively," he added.
Mr Olmert's announcement means that Israel will either have a new prime minister at the head of a new governing coalition by late October or Israelis will be heading to the polls for a general election some time early next year.
Mr Olmert has been under pressure to step down ever since allegations emerged earlier this year that he had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash-stuffed envelopes from an American businessman over a 15-year period before he became prime minister. The pressure intensified a few weeks ago when a new set of allegations emerged, with the Israeli leader accused of submitting duplicate claims for travel expenses to charities that had sponsored his trips, also during a period before he became prime minister.
Earlier this week, Kadima set September 17th as the date for the leadership vote, but Mr Olmert had remained silent on whether he planned to run for re-election or not.
Once Kadima has held its primary and Mr Olmert has resigned, the new leader will have up to six weeks to try and cobble together a new government. If this attempt should fail, then a general election will be held within 90 days. During this period, Mr Olmert will remain the leader of a transitional government, meaning he could still be in office for another six months.
Throughout his 27-month term as prime minister, Mr Olmert has been beset by controversy and has faced incessant calls to resign. He has never fully recovered from the war in Lebanon two years ago, which the Israeli public believes he badly mismanaged. The mounting corruption charges - he faces allegations of wrongdoing in four other cases as well - have undermined his ability to govern.
After US businessman Morris Talansky revealed in late May that he had given Mr Olmert $150,000 in cash to cover, among other things, personal expenses, Labour Party leader Ehud Barak issued the prime minister with an ultimatum - agree to a leadership primary in Kadima or face an early election.
Mr Olmert protested his innocence, saying the money had been used to cover campaign debts. He insisted he would only resign if indicted, but he did ultimately accede to Mr Barak's demand that Kadima choose a new leader.
Alluding to law enforcement authorities during his address, the prime minister said he was the subject of a "slander campaign."
"The prime minister is not above the law, but he is not, under any circumstances, below it," he added.
The focus will now switch rapidly to the leadership battle within Kadima, which is already underway. Leading the pack is foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who is popular among the general public. But she is likely to face a strong challenge from transport minister Shaul Mofaz, a former army chief and former defence minister.
Mr Mofaz has been telling party members that he has a better chance than Ms Livni of reconstituting a ruling coalition in parliament, thus heading off an early election.
With former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the right-wing Likud party, leading in opinion polls, neither Kadima nor Labour are keen to rush to the polls.