(Adds Likud official, Peres accelerating consultations) By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Israeli President Shimon Peres began a week-long process on Wednesday of consulting party leaders and deciding whom he should ask to form a new government after an indecisive election. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, head of the centrist Kadima party, and right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu have each staked a claim to be prime minister since the Feb. 10 vote. Kadima won 28 seats in the 120-member parliament to 27 for Netanyahu's Likud party. Despite Livni's edge, ex-premier Netanyahu appears to command the largest bloc of support and has argued that his appointment would bring stability. Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, says she is best qualified to keep U.S.-sponsored peace talks on track and has offered to bring in Netanyahu as a junior coalition partner. "Tzipi Livni has a better chance of forming a unity government, which is what Israel needs at this time," Finance Minister Roni Bar-On of Kadima told reporters after meeting Peres in the first round of consultations. "A unity government means a government that stretches from the centre to the fringes, both to right and to the left. It cannot be formed by an extreme party." A Likud delegation met Peres next. "A decisive majority of the Israeli electorate voted for parties from the right wing and they want to see Netanyahu as prime minister," said Gideon Saar, the Likud parliamentary faction leader. Under Israeli law, Peres names the candidate for premier. Peres was originally scheduled to meet representatives of other parties by Friday but he said he would accelerate the talks. Peres has until Feb. 25 to name the lawmaker who will become prime minister if he or she can build a ruling coalition. The candidate has 42 days to form a government and must then win parliament's approval. "I intend to speed up the consultations so that by tomorrow evening I will complete meeting all the parliamentary factions," a Peres spokeswoman quoted him as saying. Past presidents have mostly chosen the leader of the largest party. The electoral stalemate means Livni and Netanyahu may choose to forge a coalition, politicians in both their parties have said. Livni and her allies have said they would not join a government headed by Netanyahu. Netanyahu insists he should be prime minister and that he could form a government without Kadima and with the support of a rightist bloc of 65 lawmakers. Peres's decision could depend on whom the largest far-right party, Yisrael Beitenu, with 15 seats, recommends as prime minister. That party has not said which candidate it will support and has been holding talks with both. Left-wing and centrist lawmakers who could be Livni's natural allies have won 55 seats and not all have vowed to support her. (Editing by Robert Woodward)
An Israeli walks in front of a billboard calling for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in Tel Aviv February 18, 2009. Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid by ...
