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Leading candidate withdraws from Israeli presidential race

World News

07-06-2014 | 12:31

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Leading candidate withdraws from Israeli presidential race

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Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, one of two leading candidates to succeed Shimon Peres as Israel's next head of state, withdrew from the race on Saturday, a day after police questioned him under caution over a loan he had received.

The move appeared to smooth the path to the presidency of Reuven Rivlin, a former speaker of parliament with whom Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had a rocky relationship.

Ben-Eliezer, a former general and defence minister and a veteran Labor lawmaker, denied any wrongdoing and said he had been "deliberately targeted", but declined to say who might have tried to sabotage his campaign.

"From the moment I announced my candidacy for the post, there has been an incessant, timed campaign of smears and slander whose intention was to prevent me standing for the post of president. With a heavy heart, I have decided to withdraw from the race," Ben-Eliezer said in his statement.

Legislators will elect a new president on June 10, with five candidates in the race. When announcing the date last month, speaker Yuli Edelstein said the campaign had begun with smears against several contenders.

"The post of president of Israel is important, and it is aimed at healing rifts in the nation ... This hasn't been the kind of campaign we wanted to see," Edelstein said.

Netanyahu raised eyebrows last month when he floated the idea of abolishing the presidency, but the suggestion angered lawmakers across the political spectrum and was flatly rejected by senior ministers.

REUTERS

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