Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres wore a white skullcap to receive his formal notice of being elected Israel's ninth President and later went to the Western Wall and the home of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, spiritual leader of the Shas political party.

He thanked Rabbi Yosef for his support, which was instrumental in giving the veteran politician a large enough majority in the first round of Knesset voting to convince the other two contenders to drop out of the contest.