http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1683247
With all analysts saying that the elections will only strengthen Likud, I wonder if there is anything that the Palestinians could do as a peace overture that could strengthen the moderates and the left in Israel. Coincidentally, the Palestinian elections will be occuring in January as well won’t they?
Historic opportunity or is this just a recipe for more bloodshed?
Well, currently it seems the Likud party is at the centre of a vote rigging scandal; successful likud candidates have been found to have bribed election officials, in order to get nominated.. hmmm..
Analysts are making comparisons between Sharon and Bush; both of them are utilizing mass propoganda against Iraq including sensationalized news stories many of which are lies and deceptions, in order to take the medias attention away from their domestic affairs.. in the case of Bush it is the collapsed stockmarket and huge increases in unemployment; with sharon its the Palestinian issue and now a bribery scandal.
Likud legislator accused of buying votes](http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/364/nation/Likud_legislator_accused_of_buying_votes+.shtml)
Likud legislator accused of buying votes Associated Press, 30 Dec 2002
JERUSALEM - A deputy Cabinet minister refused yesterday to answer police questions about alleged vote buying in Ariel Sharon’s Likud Party - the most senior politician summoned so far in a scandal that has hurt the party just a month before the election. Naomi Blumenthal, the deputy infrastructure minister, invoked the right to silence and refused to answer police questions. A source close to Sharon, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that if she continues to refuse, the prime minister would dismiss her.
Blumenthal aide Michal Karni said the deputy minister was shocked that Sharon had ‘‘turned her into a scapegoat’’ without even talking to her. In another development, the election commission approved the candidacy of an extremist anti-Palestinian candidate, overturning recommendations by a Supreme Court justice and the attorney general.
In a Likud Party election last month, 2,940 members of Likud Central Committee chose the party’s candidates for Parliament in Jan. 28 elections. Disappointed contenders have since come forward with allegations that would-be candidates bribed committee members with money and favors. Police are also investigating possible organized crime involvement in the party.
Blumenthal was questioned yesterday on suspicion she helped pay for the stay of more than a dozen Central Committee members at a luxury hotel in Tel Aviv ahead of the primary. Asked about the reports that Blumenthal refused to answer police questions, Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit, a member of Sharon’s Likud Party, was critical. ‘‘Civil servants need to serve as an example and need to aid in the enforcing of the law and the search for the truth,’’ he told Israeli television.
Ariel Ben-Dov, a law professor at Haifa University, questioned Blumenthal’s decision to remain silent.‘‘When the person is a public official who is invoking the right to remain silent, the question is whether it is proper for that person to remain a public official,’’ Ben-Dov told Israel Radio.
Blumenthal, who won ninth place on the Likud list of parliamentary candidates, is the highest-ranking Likud member to be questioned in the scandal so far. Her chauffeur was detained last week on suspicion of being involved in the scheme. He remains under house arrest. Israeli newspapers reported yesterday that police had been trying to reach Blumenthal for several days.** According to opinion polls, the scandal has cost the Likud at least five seats in Parliament, not enough to remove Sharon from power.**
The latest polls predict Likud will win 35 seats in the election. The opposition Labor Party is expected to win between 20 and 22 seats in the 120-member Knesset, meaning Sharon will be in a better position to form a coalition and be prime minister. Also yesterday, the Central Elections Committee decided to allow Baruch Marzel, an ultranationalist, to run for Parliament as a member of the hawkish Herut Party, against the recommendation of Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein and the chairman of the committee, Supreme Court Justice Mishael Cheshin. Lawmakers from the centrist Labor Party said they would appeal the decision.
Re: It’s Official: Israeli elections called
No. The Palestinian elections were postponed without any new date. Ofcourse, Israel was blamed for creating the situation where elections had to be postponed. I think Arafat will live long enough to see his daughter head the Palestinian Authority. Something like Indira Gandhi of India, or Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan. Family dynasties are the rule not the exceptions.
One military "commander" goes the next take his seat, whats the use of it?!
:rotfl:
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Dil he Pakistani: *
Well, currently it seems the Likud party is at the centre of a vote rigging scandal; successful likud candidates have been found to have bribed election officials, in order to get nominated.. hmmm..
Hmmmm indeed.
How does this one canditate Blumenthalturn into canditates,in your mind DHP?
Sharon has said, if proved correct,he would sack her,what more do you want.Hang the whole party for one persons failings,is that what you believe?(Oh,of course lets not forget the chauffer)
In a democracy,it doesn`t matter who stands for elections,no matter how bad a person they may be,they have the right to stand,it is up to the people to vote for them,or not,until then,it means nothing.
Israeli's are bloodhungry hounds and the higher they are the more blood they will spill
Braveheart, analysts are linking the vote buying scandal directly to Ariel Sharon and his son. Whats also apparent are the blatantly racist policies, sponsored by the likud party and its allies and implemented by the election committee against Arabs.. :nook:
Scandal Hounds Sharon, Likud Party](Newsday | Long Island's & NYC's News Source - Newsday) Newsweek
Vote-buying controversy could affect this month’s elections January 2, 2003
Jerusalem - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s firing of a deputy cabinet minister on Tuesday has underscored the rising possibility that a vote-buying scandal could damage his Likud party in parliamentary elections Jan. 28. Prominent Likud members allegedly paid members of the party’s central committee for votes in the party’s internal election last month to choose candidates for the Knesset, or parliament.
The right-wing Likud is heavily favored to win the election, giving Sharon a new term as prime minister, but opinion polls have shown the scandal cutting into Likud’s lead over the left-wing Labor Party.
Sharon fired Deputy Infrastructure Minister Naomi Blumenthal after she refused Sunday to answer police investigators’ questions about the scandal. His move aimed “to stop the intifada [uprising] against him and against his son,” political analyst Hanan Crystal said. "We don’t know yet if he succeeded or not. This is like Watergate and it can ultimately reach the top," he said.
Yesterday, an aide to Blumenthal threatened to turn the tables on Sharon by saying he would file a complaint with police against Sharon’s son, Omri, whom he accused of an improper role in the vote for Likud candidates. He gave no details or evidence. Omri Sharon has been criticized often in Israeli media for associating with suspected or convicted criminals.
Sharon had vowed to expel any party members tainted by the scandal. Several activists, including Blumenthal’s chauffeur, have been arrested. Blumenthal remains in the ninth spot on Likud’s list for the election, effectively assuring her a Knesset seat. Sharon has no legal authority to remove her from the party’s list of candidates.
Israeli news media have noted that Likud is not unique in being accused of internal corruption or of association with organized crime. But the scale of the current scandal is different, said a columnist in the Jerusalem Post last month. “Never before have such overtly criminal and unsavory elements dared to involve themselves so openly in choosing a ruling party’s list of candidates.”
The scandal is not the only turmoil in the election campaign. The parliament’s election committee, which is dominated by Sharon’s right-wing allies, this week outraged ethnic Arab voters by banning a number of Arab candidates, including current members of the Knesset, from the ballot.
The committee banned legislators Azmi Bishara and Ahmed Tibi, plus Bishara’s Arab-Israeli party Balad. It said the men have supported Palestinian militant activity against Israel, a charge they deny. Arabs, who form a fifth of the electorate, have threatened a boycott of the election. That would damage the Labor Party, which historically gets a portion of the Arab vote.
The committee’s vote has been condemned by judicial officials including retired Supreme Court justice Yitzhak Zamir. The Supreme Court agreed to hear petitions on Tuesday that it overturn the ban.
DhP, Thank you for sharing the interesting articles. :k:
Police estimates it has enough proof to indict Blumenthal, Baruch Kra
Ha’aretz, 3 January 2003