Likud takes stopgap measures to halt walkout

The Likud has embarked on a drive to prevent key activists from following Prime Minister Ariel Sharon out of the party, as polls predicted that Sharon’s new centrist party would defeat both Likud and Labor. The polls, commissioned by the Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv dailies, gave Sharon’s Kadima party 33-34 seats in the March 28 election. The polls predicted that Labor would win 26-28 seats and the Likud would win only 13, compared to the 40 seats it currently has. The Maariv poll, conducted by Teleseker, indicates that Kadima and Labor alone could form a coalition of 62 MKs. Thirteen Likud ministers and MKs have already joined Sharon’s walkout, and they are certain to try to bring Likud mayors and heads of local Likud chapters along with them. Meanwhile, Education Minister Limor Livnat (Likud) on Friday called on the members of Sharon’s new party, Kadima, to leave the government. Responding to a question on whether she plans to remain in government until the elections, Livnat said during an Israel Radio interview: „The ones who should leave the government are those who were elected by Likud voters and left the Likud.” A major element of the Likud’s effort to prevent an outflow is increased contact between key activists and the party’s remaining ministers and MKs. To this end, the Likud Knesset fdecided at a meeting Wednesday that every minister and MK will receive a list of Likud mayors and key activists in local party branches. Each minister and MK is then supposed to make immediate contact with everyone on his list and try to encourage them to remain loyal to the Likud. In addition, the party is actively trying to identify those activists and party members who have already started working for Sharon’s campaign, so that they can be thrown out of the party. Likud officials say the fact that elections have been advanced to March 28 will make it easy to determine the extent of the party’s losses, since activists who plan to campaign for Sharon will have to start doing so soon. About 1,000 members of the Likud Central Committee attended Thursday’s committee session in Tel Aviv, the first since Sharon quit. Though the committee’s full complement would be closer to 3,000 people, party officials deemed this a reasonable level of attendance in light of the recent split. The committee confirmed a deal reached among the six candidates for the party’s leadership, under which a primary will be held on December 19. The candidates are ministers Shaul Mofaz, Silvan Shalom and Yisrael Katz, MKs Benjamin Netanyahu and Uzi Landau, and Moshe Feiglin, who heads the party’s Jewish leadership faction. All have signed a pledge drafted by Health Minister Dan Naveh to wage a clean campaign that will not damage what is left of the party’s unity. None of the candidates addressed the central committee, and the atmosphere seemed quiet and depressed in comparison to the Sharon era, when such meetings were usually marked by angry arguments and vituperative insults. Despite not being present, Sharon was a target for many committee members’ anger this time as well: The session was periodically punctuated by cries of „Arik ran away!” But some committee members directed their fury at the Likud „rebels” who opposed the disengagement plan, blaming them for the split in the party. Acting Central Committee head Tzachi Hanegbi tried in his speech to inject a fighting spirit into the members. „The Likud never was and never will be a one-man party,” he said. „We are entering four of the most important months that the movement has known since it was founded. We need to light the torch in order to win.” Added Naveh: „With every day that passes, Sharon’s list will lose more and more ground.” Committee members responded with cheers, but they seemed to lack their usual energy. Until a new leader is elected, the Likud is being run de facto by a troika comprised of Netanyahu, Mofaz and Shalom. At the same time, however, they are busy waging their primary campaigns: All three hosted get-togethers for their key activists Thursday. BPI-info