Prime Minister Amir Peretz?

After the 2003 elections, it took me about a year and a half until I was sorry I voted for Shinui. This time around, I'm feeling sorry about voting for Labor already. Amir Peretz is trying to get the right wing parties to support and join a government led by himself. There are so many reasons why this would be a disaster.

For one thing, all these parties have nothing in common other than the desire to keep Kadima out of government. Their views on just about every issue are so very different, which would make this a stalemate coalition. It will break up quickly, once its left-wing parties try something its right-wing parties oppose. That will either cause very early elections or the formation of a Kadima-led government after a few months of being stuck in the mud.

Also, though Kadima's election result was mediocre, winning 29 seats after earlier polls had shown them at the 30's and 40's. But it's still the largest party in parliament, almost doubling the number of members it had in the previous Knesset (the former Likud and Labor MKs who formed Kadima). On the other hand, Labor got just one more seat than they did in 2003. And back then, Amir Peretz ran with his small party Am Echad and got 3 seats, which later joined Labor with a combined 22 seats. So actually Labor lost 2 seats on March 28.

Another reason this is not a good idea is Amir Peretz himself. He is not a national leader, but a labor union leader. He would be a bad prime minister. Also, polls show very few people want him at the helm.

Tags: Israel, Israeli Politics, Politics, Israeli Elections, Labor Party, Kadima