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Israel's PM-designate seeks more time to form govt
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Israel's PM-designate seeks more time to form govt
AFP - Saturday, March 21
JERUSALEM (AFP) - - Israeli premier-designate Benjamin Netanyahu was to request on Friday two more weeks to form a government, determined to build as broad as possible a coalition to avoid giving too much clout to far-right and religious parties.
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The hawkish Likud leader wants to use the extra time to try to convince the left-of-centre Labour party of outgoing Defence Minister Ehud Barak to join his government.
Netanyahu had been expected earlier to ask for the extension on Sunday, but the office of President Shimon Peres said the formal request would be presented on Friday.
Netanyahu was tasked on February 20 with forming a government after February 10 snap elections. He had an initial 28-day deadline but is legally entitled to a two-week extension.
He has gained support from far-right and religious parties but has failed to get the backing he needs to form a broad-based coalition he says is essential to maintain political stability.
Barak who had initially rejected Netanyahu's advances reversed his position and has asked his Labour party to consider joining a Likud-led coalition.
He said on Thursday that it was in the "superior interests of the state" to "counteract the effect of the extreme right."
According to Israeli news reports, Netanyahu has offered Barak to stay on as defence minister.
Barak declared earlier this month that he would not join a Netanyahu-led government after the Likud leader reached a deal with the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, under which its controversial leader Avigdor Lieberman would become foreign minister.
The deeply-divided, 1,460-strong Labour congress is due to decide on Tuesday whether the party will join the new government.
The party vote is expected to reflect a close to even division between those who want Labour to join the government and those who do not, according to Israeli media.
"The battle will be decided by a very few votes," the Maariv daily said.
Outgoing Education Minister Yuli Tamir, a Labour MP, claimed Barak was leading the party to its doom as a right-wing government would block any effort to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Netanyahu has not entirely given up hopes of convincing the centrist Kadima party, which leads the outgoing coalition government, of joining him.
Kadima leader Tzipi Livni has turned down his advances because of the weight far-right and religious parties would have in the coalition, but the two have held talks away from the public eye, according to Likud officials.
Netanyahu had become Israel's youngest prime minister in 1996, at the age of 45, but was defeated by Barak three years later after his right-wing government collapsed because far-right parties quit over deals he struck with the Palestinians under US pressure.
Although Kadima won 28 seats in the February 10 election -- one more than Netanyahu's Likud -- the former premier was tasked with forming the next government because he is believed to have a better chance of forging a majority in the 120-seat parliament.
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Israeli prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, is due to formally request another two weeks to form a coalition government, the country's presidential office has said.
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