CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Friends of beleaguered Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert want to keep him in office as long as possible.

Kadima members Hussein Suleiman and David Schwartz found kindred spirits with the party's house committee head MK (member of Knesset) Tzahi Hanegbi and his colleague, council chairman Meir Nitzan, who accepted Suleiman and Schwartz's petition seeking to cancel the upcoming primaries, due to alleged irregularities in last month's decision to hold them.

According to Jerusalem Post political analyst Gil Hoffman, re-voting on the decision to hold the party's first primaries is "only a technical matter" that "is expected to pass easily."

"I want to give Olmert another few good months in power," Suleiman, a close personal friend of the prime minister, told Hoffman Tuesday night, at a rally hosted by Interior Minister Meir Shitreet to kick off his bid to replace Olmert as party chairman.

Shitreet, who has lagged behind Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, in his bid for the chairmanship, touted his credentials to his guests after they dined at a gourmet buffet.

"Don't go after the polls," Shitreet told party members. "Go after your hearts, not your heads."

Source: The Jerusalem Post