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JERUSALEM - Israel is set to hold snap elections early next year after the leader of the biggest party failed to form a coalition, with political rivals already setting the tone for a campaign likely to focus on peace talks with the Palestinians.
Even before an election date has been set, the governing Kadima party, its Labour ally and the right-wing Likud already were mapping out the outlines of their political agendas.
The centrist Kadima was expected on Monday to present a formal request for the dissolution of the Knesset -- Israel's parliament -- followed by elections within 90 days.
"It is important to hold elections within the shortest period allowable by law in order to reduce uncertainties, given the serious political, economic and security challenges Israel faces," said Kadima spokesman Shmulik Dahan.
President Shimon Peres was expected to formally announce the election at a ceremony marking the start of parliament's winter session.
Kadima leader and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday that she opted for early elections because she would not cave in to the conditions set by the religious Shas party for joining a new coalition.
"I was ready to pay a certain price... but I wasn't ready to mortgage the future of Israel," Livni said after Shas set budgetary conditions and insisted the fate of Jerusalem could not be included in peace talks with the Palestinians.
Livni had been holding coalition negotiations since she was elected Kadima leader last month, replacing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who is battling allegations of corruption.
Olmert stepped down as prime minister, but will remain interim premier until a new government is in place.
Livni made it clear she would generally maintain Olmert's policies favouring the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel but with the Jewish state to retain its major settlements in the West Bank.
Both Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas had pledged to try to reach a deal before US President George W. Bush leaves office in January, but despite months of negotiations, the talks have made little visible progress.
With Israel going to early elections, the peace efforts are now likely to hang in limbo for several months.
The question of Jerusalem is one of the major stumbling points in the peace negotiations.
Israel considers the whole city its eternal and undivided capital, but the Palestinians demand east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Israel captured mostly Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 war and annexed it shortly afterwards, in a move not recognised by the international community.
Likud, which is headed by hardline former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claims that Kadima and Livni were willing to divide Jerusalem and to withdraw from the occupied West Bank, which Israel calls Judea and Samaria.
"It turns out the Kadima leaders are ready to give up the whole of Judea and Samaria and carry out the programme of the extreme left," Likud's parliamentary leader Gideon Saar told public radio.
He insisted Likud would devote itself to maintaining Israel's security interests in the West Bank as well as its "national heritage" -- a reference to Jewish settlements that base their claim to the land on religious and nationalist arguments.
Labour, the key partner in the current coalition, claims to be the only party to have the necessary experience to be able to offer "peace and security" to Israel, but opinion polls indicate their support has fallen dramatically.
A poll published on Monday indicates Kadima would win three more seats in parliament than Likud if elections were held now, gaining 29 of the 120 seats while Likud would gain 26.
The Labour party of Defence Minister Ehud Barak would have 11, according to the poll published in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, which also indicated both Kadima and Likud would be able to form a coalition with the backing of 60 MPs.
Kadima currently has 29 deputies in the Knesset, Labour has 19, while Likud and Shas each have 12.
- AFP/ir
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