Labour to pull out of Sharon coalition

ISRAEL’S Labour Party last night voted to pull out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s coalition government, virtually assuring early general elections in March.

The decision came in a show of hands at a Labour Party convention in Tel Aviv, following the wishes of the new party leader, Amir Peretz, who collected letters of resignation from the Labour cabinet ministers last week.

In his first campaign speech, Mr Peretz, addressing the convention, emphasised domestic economic issues.