Olmert Threatens to
Resign if Indicted
“Threatened” rather than offered to resign is the right term because Olmert’s resignation at this juncture would have serious political repercussions, almost certainly precipitating new elections. Olmert’s party, Kadima, is in the throes of a primary election to replace him. His sudden resignation would leave the Knesset’s largest party without an agreed candidate for Prime Minister and almost certainly make the formation of a new government impossible.
Olmert’s threat to resign is widely viewed as a veiled bid to ensure that police and prosecutors do not hasten to indict him in the next six weeks until the Kadima primaries.