News / World
Shimon Peres Becomes Ninth President of Israel
Shimon Peres was elected as Israel’s ninth president on Wednesday after winning the support of parliament when the two other candidates withdrew from the race.
Peres had a commanding lead over Reuven Rivlin and Colette Avital after the first round of voting when the two opted to drop out before the second round vote. Peres received approval from 86 of the 120 parliament members to earn the presidency.
Israel is hoping that Peres will lift the office of the presidency out of its current state of disarray. Peres is replacing Moshe Katsav, the man who beat him for the post in 2000. Katsav has been accused of sexual misconduct, which may include rape, involving four women employees.
At 83-years-old Peres has had a long and distinguished career serving Israel. He was a top aide for Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion and he began serving in parliament in 1959. From that point on he held nearly every top post in Israel. While he was never elected prime minister, Peres did serve in that role from 22 April – 21 June 1977, 1984-1986 (as part of a rotation agreement), and again in 1995-1996 after Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.
In 1994 Shimon Peres, along with Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize.
Peres will be sworn into office on July 15 and will serve a seven-year term.
