Friday 8 January 1999

Novices enticed to seek office in Israeli election

USA TODAY, Jan 8, 1999

Matthew Kalman

JERUSALEM -- Widespread voter disenchantment with the main parties on the left and right is drawing novice politicians into the electoral arena and driving many veterans toward the center before the May 17 Israeli election.

This was underscored this week when Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, a popular general with no political experience and no party organization, announced he will run for prime minister

At the same time, Dan Meridor, widely regarded as the spiritual heir to Israel's first right-wing prime minister, Menachem Begin, announced last month he was quitting Likud, the governing party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to form a new centrist party and run for the top job.

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