AG to make call on Sharon

2006-01-10 13:49

Jerusalem - The decision on whether Ariel Sharon's condition permanently incapacitates him as prime minister would only be made by Israel's attorney-general after doctors observed the full damage to his brain.

Menachem Mazuz would make his decision only after receiving detailed opinions from medical officials, who would assess Sharon's cognitive ability for the coming days as they tried to rouse him from a deep coma.

It was Mazuz who decided that Sharon was "temporarily incapacitated" in accordance with the basic law within minutes of his admittance to hospital last Wednesday, and that an acting prime minister had to be appointed.

Sharon's fate 'taking a while'

Deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert was thus named acting premier, although his position would have to be ratified by a cabinet vote should Sharon be declared permanently incapacitated.

A spokesperson for the justice ministry said: "Only the attoreny-general can decide... When the doctors come and tell him that Mr Sharon can't be prime minister anymore, then he will decide, but it's going to take a while.

"It depends on... how fast he's going to wake up and how fast they can observe the damage to his brain. We have to wait for the doctors."

After Mazuz's decision, the government would have to choose a permanent replacement until the March 28 general election.

Possible candidates

By law, the candidate must be a minister, an MP and a member of Sharon's centrist Kadima party.

The only possible candidates were Olmert, justice minister Tzippi Livni, public security minister Gideon Ezra and tourism minister Abraham Hirshson.

Olmert was set to keep the job until a new cabinet was formed after the election.

Sharon was being gradually awoken from the medically induced coma and doctors had warned that it could take several days before they assess the damage to his brain - caused by his massive stroke last Wednesday.

- AFP