Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a short speech that he will be leaving office two months from now, after Kadima picks a new chairman.
Olmert said: "The campaign of mudslinging which is being waged in these days raises a question that I cannot do not want to avoid: what is more important – my private justice or the good of the public?"
He went on to say: "I decided not to run in the primaries, and I will not interfere in the internal elections. I will accept their results and give them my blessings."