Barak excludes early elections after Shas withdrawal

The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak excluded calling for early elections following the decision of the extreme rightist party Shas to withdraw from the coalition government.

Barak did his best in order to keep the ruling coalition saying that he still want Shas to remain a partner in his government even if Shas officially resigned from the ruling coalition yesterday.

According to the Israeli law, the resignation will not be valid until tomorrow which gives a chance to make negotiations with Shas to reach an agreement in the last minutes.

Shas is asking for financing its religious schools and granting legal authorizations for the unlicensed radio stations (affiliated to the party).