Balad, Justice for the Elderly don't recommend premiership candidates

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Balad and Justice for the Elderly MKs on Monday decided not to recommend a premiership candidate to President Shimon Peres, who was discussing the government's future with delegates of the different political parties. Balad MK Wasal Taha said his party did not recommend any candidates to the president because "the situation without a defined strategy is not clear." In a conversation with the president, the Balad delegation spoke about peace and equality for the Arab sector and also raised the issue of Arab prisoners who have been incarcerated for more than 20 years without any reduction of sentence. They reported that the president said he would look into the matter. Meanwhile, the three members of the Justice for the Elderly Party said that they would not recommend anyone for a number of reasons. The first, according to chairman Moshe Sharoni, is that they don't know what the basic agenda of Tzipi Livni is. The second is that they feel that social issues, particularly those of the aged, have not been addressed. The third is because they were insulted that there was no response from Livni to a statement made Monday morning by GIL that if Justice for the Elderly joined the coalition, GIL would not be there.