Minister of Interior Moshe Shapira, Poale Mizrachi leader, has begun negotiations with the Mapam and General Zionist Parties for their entrance into an enlarged coalitionary government, it was learned here today.
Minister Shapira told newsmen that he started the negotiations not on Premier Ben Gurion’s or the Mapai Party’s initiative, but on his own, because “the grave economic situation of the country requires the participation of all parties (in the government) to share the responsibility and help economic recovery.”
His first contact was with the Mapam Party, which has undertaken to give him a reply within a few days. The talks with the General Zionists were described as “only exploratory” in nature. Mapam leaders such as Dr. Moshe Sneh and Yaacov Riftin have expressed the opinion that “there is no chance of our entrance into the government in the present circumstances.” Centrist leaders have been more reserved in comment.
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