The losing Labor candidate for the state presidency of Israel, Shimon Peres, decided Monday to hold on to his post as regional cooperation minister, Israeli television reported.
Peres had handed in his resignation from the post Sunday to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and that would have taken effect 48 hours later.
He told Barak by phone Monday that he would withdraw his resignation to enable him to continue working to promote the Middle East peace process, the television said.
Against all expectations, Peres was beaten in a parliamentary vote for the state presidency by a relatively unknown member of the right-wing Likud group, Moshe Katzav, by 63 votes to 57.
Several hundred Israeli pacifists and left-wing militants gathered late Monday near his home in the Ramat-Aviv sector of Tel Aviv, calling on him not to leave political life and chanting: "The people are with you."
An opinion poll published Friday by the leading Israeli daily, Yediot Aharonot, showed that two out of three Israelis wanted Peres to be president - OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP)
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