The Labour Party in Israel have voted in favour of coalition with Prime Minister-elect Mr Ariel Sharon's Likud Party.
The party's central committee voted by secret ballot after a stormy five-hour meeting in Tel Aviv to approve the party's inclusion in a broad-based coalition led by Mr Sharon despite bitter internal arguments over the issue.
Labour party secretary general Mr Raanan Cohen said 66 percent voted in favour of joining the government, while 32.2 percent were opposed. Although only 753 members of the 1,700-strong committee voted, Mr Cohen said the vote "committed the entire party."
The committee is due to meet on Wednesday to approve distribution of portfolios offered by Likud, including the key foreign affairs and defence ministry posts.
"This vote is a victory for Israel and the Labour party," said former-Prime Minister Mr Shimon Peres, who was the leading proponent of joining a national unity government. "It will be a government in the spirit of peace."
"Finally the Labour party may be coming on board," a Likud party spokesman said.
"We have been trying to achieve a unity government for a very long time and as soon as that happens we can try to correct some of the problems," he told AFP, declining to comment further.
Mr Sharon, the former general, who celebrates his 73rd birthday today, must form a government by the end of March or face new elections.
AFP