TEHRAN The question of early prime ministerial elections in the Zionist regime has intensified the inefficiency of Ihud Barak administration. The collapse or resignation of governments has been a big dilemma for the political system of the Zionist regime since its establishment. What gives rise to a crisis at the political level is the great expense of holding elections. The competition for gaining power and obtaining electoral funds poses major challenges for government officials of the regime. The intense competition among parties for the use of limited resources has led to illegal electoral activities by the parties and massive corruption among officials of the regime. Previous governments of the regime as well as numerous individuals and parties have been accused of misuse of funds for political purposes. This fact does not apply simply to one party or person but to the entire political system of the Zionist regime. The disclosure of the financial corruption of Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu (former prime minister), Tsahi Hangbi (justice minister of Netanyahu's government), Ezer Weizman (former president) and Ehud Barak (the resigned prime minister) illustrates this fact. In the 1999 elections, the United (single) Israeli Party was accused of illegally receiving 11 million shekels from several companies. Moreover, accusations were also leveled against parties such as Likud, Mianeh, Yahdovot Hotarah and Israel Bitnio. The astronomical cost of holding elections and the nature of the use of electoral funds is intensifying tensions and differences among parties. The daily **** Haaretz ***** estimated the cost of holding the elections to be approximately 531 million shekels. This figure does not include by-elections, in which 70 million shekels will be spent on the central budget of elections, 150 million shekels for financial aid to parties and 150 million shekels for losing one working day by holding the elections on a Tuesday. Also, each party nominating a candidate for the post of prime minister will receive 43.289 million shekels. The allocation of this amount for the elections intensifies the efforts and rivalries of the parties for obtaining it. The question of holding early prime ministerial elections and its costs can be examined from two aspects:

1 - At the party level: At this level, parties compete intensely for the above cited sum and leave no stone unturned in preventing other parties from obtaining these funds, by creating legal barriers and resorting to sabotage. The desire for electoral funds causes small parties to nominate a candidate for prime minister. This issue has generated concern for the bigger parties, which have launched efforts to impede smaller parties from availing of these funds. At first, the Single Israel and Likud parties proposed a plan to the Knesset in which only the parties nominating a candidate for prime minister are authorized to benefit from this budget. The proposal was strongly opposed by Mitres, Shinoi, Ihdovat, Hotra, Mefdal and Shas. These parties argued that they will also undertake expenses for the candidates of their choice. Following this opposition to the proposal, Single Israel and Likud raised a new proposal: each party whose candidate for the post of prime minister obtains less than 15 percent of the vote must return the government funds it received.

(To Be Contd)