Minister Without Portfolio Uzi Landau announced his candidacy last night for Chairman of the Likud Central Committee. He will be running against Minister Tzachi HaNegbi. Both Landau and HaNegbi are known to oppose the disengagement plan, but Landau has taken the lead in this regard, while HaNegbi is known as a Sharon loyalist.
"The Chairmanship of the Committee is a very important position," Landau told Arutz-7 today, "as the Committee is the supreme body entrusted with setting the party's direction and principles. For the last several years, it has been silenced, and we have to restore its democratic nature... It's not just a matter of the disengagement, but also social matters, and law and justice, and [others]..."
Landau was asked if he is in favor of new elections, given the reports of today that advisors of the Prime Minister are saying he should call new elections right after the Knesset vote on the disengagement. Landau's response:
"I'm not in favor of early elections. It's generally desirable to have elections once every four years and not every two years. Even under the current circumstances, it's better to have a referendum [regarding the withdrawal from Gaza] and not new elections. I don't understand why Sharon would want to go for new elections, because he's likely to end up with a Likud faction that is both more unfriendly to the disengagement than it currently is, and probably smaller than it is now; I don't think we'll be able to get 40 Knesset seats in the next election... We have to make sure that Labor does not enter the government, otherwise we're liable to have a left-wing government until the elections in 2006, and who knows how much damage it could do... Regarding a referendum: Even if the public votes in favor of the disengagement, I think it is an important process, because I don't think the Likud currently has a public mandate to carry out this plan, seeing as how we explained all its deficiencies in the election campaign..."
"The Chairmanship of the Committee is a very important position," Landau told Arutz-7 today, "as the Committee is the supreme body entrusted with setting the party's direction and principles. For the last several years, it has been silenced, and we have to restore its democratic nature... It's not just a matter of the disengagement, but also social matters, and law and justice, and [others]..."
Landau was asked if he is in favor of new elections, given the reports of today that advisors of the Prime Minister are saying he should call new elections right after the Knesset vote on the disengagement. Landau's response:
"I'm not in favor of early elections. It's generally desirable to have elections once every four years and not every two years. Even under the current circumstances, it's better to have a referendum [regarding the withdrawal from Gaza] and not new elections. I don't understand why Sharon would want to go for new elections, because he's likely to end up with a Likud faction that is both more unfriendly to the disengagement than it currently is, and probably smaller than it is now; I don't think we'll be able to get 40 Knesset seats in the next election... We have to make sure that Labor does not enter the government, otherwise we're liable to have a left-wing government until the elections in 2006, and who knows how much damage it could do... Regarding a referendum: Even if the public votes in favor of the disengagement, I think it is an important process, because I don't think the Likud currently has a public mandate to carry out this plan, seeing as how we explained all its deficiencies in the election campaign..."