Israel’s president will ask acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to form a new government after his centrist Kadima Party won last week’s election, a spokeswoman said today.

Ariel Sharon’s main allies launched their election campaign today, saying the prime minister’s new centrist party would push for a final agreement with the Palestinians and the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Israel’s president and parliament have reached agreement for March 28 as the date for general elections, officials said today.

Polls published today, a day after Ariel Sharon broke away from his hardline Likud party, showed him mustering enough support to return to the prime minister’s seat at the head of a moderate coalition.