Another Legal Round

Attorney Yossi Fuchs is asking the High Court of Justice to rule that a member of the Likud faction, rather than the Kadima faction, should be appointed interim prime minister if it is determined that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is permanently incapacitated.

Read on:

According to Article 30 (g) of the Basic Law: Government, "if the prime minister has died or is permanently incapacitated from carrying out his duties... the government shall designate a member of the Knesset and of the prime minister's faction to be interim prime minister..."

Sharon was elected in January 2003 as head of the Likud Party list, but left it and formed a new party and Knesset faction in November along with 14 Likud MKs, including Finance Minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert is being touted by Kadima to replace Sharon until the general election.

In his petition, Fuchs argued that the intention of the basic law was to appoint a successor from the faction that the prime minister headed on election day.

"Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was appointed by the president to form a government as chairman of the Likud faction and, indeed, he heads the government on the strength of the Likud faction, which is the biggest in the Knesset, and not on the strength of Kadima faction, which split away."

I doubt that Yossi will win. Kadima set up a new faction while Sharon was prime minister. I would presume that a "faction" then legally exists.

As Yossi is running for a spot on the Likud Knesset list, he may be playing to the bleachers.