Peres says he will run for Israeli presidency

JERUSALEM – Shimon Peres confirmed yesterday he will ask parliament to elect him Israel’s head of state next month, taking over a mostly ceremonial role that has been overshadowed by a rape inquiry into the outgoing president.

“I have decided to answer the calls to be a candidate for the presidency,” the former premier told fellow lawmakers from his centrist Kadima party a day after the party leader, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, offered the elder statesman its backing. In a straight three-way vote among the Knesset’s 120 members on June 13, the endorsement of Kadima, the biggest bloc with 29 seats, makes Peres the favourite to succeed Moshe Katsav.But the ballot is secret and analysts say the outcome is uncertain.”I have occupied almost every senior position in the land,” Peres, who is now a deputy prime minister, said.”I have known failures but have also had successes that I hope have contributed to building the nation,” the 83-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate added.The other candidates are Reuven Rivlin of the right-wing opposition party Likud and Colette Avital from Labour, Olmert’s coalition partner and the party Peres once led before he founded Kadima in 2005 with ex-Likud figures Olmert and Ariel Sharon.If he becomes president, Peres would effectively take himself out of the running to replace Olmert should the prime minister resign in response to scathing criticism by an official inquiry of his conduct of last year’s war in Lebanon.”Mr Peres, I promise you …we will work constantly and tirelessly to ensure the Knesset rises up to the challenge and gives a real expression to what the people of Israel deserve to win in this presidential vote,” Olmert told the meeting.Polls show most Israelis want Peres as president.He lost the last presidential election, in 2000, to Katsav, of Likud.His presidency has ended in scandal, however, with Katsav sidelined for months as he fights accusations he raped a woman employee and sexually assaulted three others while in office.He denies all wrongdoing and has not been charged.Peres, born in Poland, served as prime minister from 1984 to 1986 and again in 1995 after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.An architect of interim peace deals with the Palestinians in the 1990s, he has struggled to shake off a reputation for failing to turn decades in senior positions into lasting achievements.”The president does not have much authority,” he said yesterday.”But he does have the authority to do good deeds.”Nampa-ReutersIn a straight three-way vote among the Knesset’s 120 members on June 13, the endorsement of Kadima, the biggest bloc with 29 seats, makes Peres the favourite to succeed Moshe Katsav.But the ballot is secret and analysts say the outcome is uncertain.”I have occupied almost every senior position in the land,” Peres, who is now a deputy prime minister, said.”I have known failures but have also had successes that I hope have contributed to building the nation,” the 83-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate added.The other candidates are Reuven Rivlin of the right-wing opposition party Likud and Colette Avital from Labour, Olmert’s coalition partner and the party Peres once led before he founded Kadima in 2005 with ex-Likud figures Olmert and Ariel Sharon.If he becomes president, Peres would effectively take himself out of the running to replace Olmert should the prime minister resign in response to scathing criticism by an official inquiry of his conduct of last year’s war in Lebanon.”Mr Peres, I promise you …we will work constantly and tirelessly to ensure the Knesset rises up to the challenge and gives a real expression to what the people of Israel deserve to win in this presidential vote,” Olmert told the meeting.Polls show most Israelis want Peres as president.He lost the last presidential election, in 2000, to Katsav, of Likud.His presidency has ended in scandal, however, with Katsav sidelined for months as he fights accusations he raped a woman employee and sexually assaulted three others while in office.He denies all wrongdoing and has not been charged.Peres, born in Poland, served as prime minister from 1984 to 1986 and again in 1995 after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.An architect of interim peace deals with the Palestinians in the 1990s, he has struggled to shake off a reputation for failing to turn decades in senior positions into lasting achievements.”The president does not have much authority,” he said yesterday.”But he does have the authority to do good deeds.”Nampa-Reuters