Jerusalem: Israel on Sunday took it first steps towards forming a new government. President Moshe Katsav, who will choose a party leader to put together a governing coalition, first met members of Olmert's centrist Kadima party.
He then held talks with the centre-left Labour Party, which came second. Discussions with all parties that won seats are likely to last several days.
Both Kadima and Labour said they told Katsav their leaders should form the next government. Kadima took 29 seats in the 120-member parliament.
Kadima, which fared worse in the elections than predicted, said it wanted to build a broad coalition.
Many analysts expect Labour to eventually join it, although a sticking point could be who will get the post of finance minister, a job Labour sees as vital to its social programme.
"A wide government will provide stability to enable the government to make decisions, stand by them ... and fulfill its full term," senior Kadima official Roni Bar-On said.
But Labour secretary-general Eitan Cabel said after meeting Katsav that their party's leader, former trade union chief Amir Peretz, should be chosen to build a coalition.
"It is clear there is more than one option to form the next government," Cabel said, noting Kadima had barely won a quarter of the parliamentary seats.
Meanwhile, the Labour party lost one of the 20 seats that it won in last week's general election as a result of a counting error, the central elections commission said late Sunday.
Katsav said he would try to choose a candidate quickly to begin the task. Traditionally, the president invites the leader whose party won the most seats.
A candidate chosen by Katsav will have up to 42 days to form a government.
