Barak calls on Olmert to resign

[Scurrilous]

Former Prime Minister Barak says if Olmert doesn’t resign by May 28 Labor primaries he will push for early elections; ‘under my leadership Labor will join coalition with Kadima only if Olmert agrees to step down,’ he says

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3397431,00.html

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"Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak called on Ehud Olmert on Tuesday to step down over his mishandling of last summer's war with Hizbullah.

Barak urged the prime minister to follow the example of former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz who resigned in January over the army's poor performance against the Shiite organization."

<snip>

"Barak added that if Olmert did not resign by the date of the Labor primaries at the end of May, he would push for early elections.

"If on May 28, I am elected leader of the Labor Party, and the prime minister has not yet reached personal conclusions, I will push for new Knesset elections," he told a press conference in Hadera.

Barak said that under his leadership, the Labor Party would join a coalition government with the ruling Kadima party only if Olmert agreed to step down at the end of a "transitional period."

[oberliner]

1. Kadima officials: Party must begin search for Olmert replacement

The Kadima Party must begin preparing to choose a replacement for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, senior Kadima officials said on Tuesday in response to a public statement by Ehud Barak urging Olmert to resign.

Barak is one of the two leading candidates for the Labor Party leadership, and the other, Ami Ayalon, announced several days ago that he would not serve in an Olmert government should he win the May 28 primary.

Thus Barak's statement, ending several days of silence on the issue, effectively sounded the death knell for Olmert's government, Kadima officials said.

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/857312.html