As Israel's June 13th Presidential election approaches, Knesset blocs are making their favorites known. Candidate Reuven Rivlin has written a last-minute appeal to all the MKs.
The nine Knesset Members of the right-wing National Union-National Religious Party faction have thrown their support behind candidate Reuven Rivlin, a Knesset Member from the Likud known for relatively hawkish political positions. The Pensioners Party (Gil) pledged its seven votes to Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres of the Kadima party. 
The Pensioners party did not select the octogenarian Peres because of his age.
According to their announcement, the Pensioners Party did not select the octogenarian Peres because of his age. Rather, the party leadership explained, Peres would best represent Israel in the eyes of the world, since he is a well-known and well-liked figure abroad.
According to Israeli law, the President is elected by the majority of voting Knesset Members. The election is conducted by secret ballot. The current President is Moshe Katzav; however, due to a criminal investigation underway against him, the Acting President, MK Dalia Itzik (Labor), will be handling the transition following the election.
Another faction that has recently declared its support for Shimon Peres's presidential bid is the Sephardic-Hareidi Shas party. Last week, the party's guiding Council of Torah sages, led by former Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, announced, "We instruct all Shas faction MKs to vote for Mr. Shimon Peres as President of the State, and we wish him luck in his position for the State of Israel. We also honor and respect our dear friend Reuven Rivlin and appreciate him, and wish for him to rise upwards and upwards."
Some Shas MKs, however, have already intimated that they will vote differently once they are alone, behind the voting partition. It was just such a scenario that led to Peres' defeat in the last presidential election, when the Peres camp confidently counted votes that were ultimately cast for his opponent, Moshe Katzav.
Reuven ("Ruby") Rivlin is a respected former Speaker of the Knesset from the Likud party, upon which he is counting for the core of his support. However, he enjoys the support of individual MKs from parties across the political spectrum.
On Monday, Rivlin sent a last-minute letter to MKs in which he expressed his faith that "at the moment of truth, behind the curtain, far from those who entice and those who threaten, fairness and conscience will win out." In his call to his
Rivlin enjoys the support of individual MKs from across the political spectrum.colleagues in parliament - issued "over the heads of the entertainers, the publicists, the rich, the PR consultants, the advertisers and the strategists" - Rivlin wrote:
"I believe that only a president elected by a broad and rare consensus in this house will see before him all of those who elected him and all of the public, with all of its sectors and ethnic groups, throughout his entire seven-year term of office. I believe it is in my power to bring that message out."
Colette Avital, a former ambassador, consul-general in New York and a sitting MK representing the Labor party, is also running for the presidency. Formally, she is the Labor pick; however, several MKs from her party have already indicated their support for one or another of her rivals, Peres or Rivlin. In particular, Labor MK Shelly Yechimovitch, a former radio personality, publicly stated that she will not vote for Avital, but rather for Rivlin.
Avital has charged supporters of Vice Prime Minister Peres with threatening to wreck her political career if she does not pull out of the race for President. Aides to Peres responded that they refuse to be drawn into an argument.