If Labor loses and sticks to its pledge, Mr. Sharon may have little choice but to form a rightist government cobbled together from small nationalist and religious parties.
Mr. Jumblatt's bloc of 17 seats, Mr. Hariri's of 18 and about 10 Christian opposition rightists could have formed a nucleus to block it.
Mr. Sharansky had been pushing Mr. Barak to form a unity government with the rightist Likud Party.
So that, he said, is why he is acting to halt things in their tracks, and urging Mr. Barak to form a partnership with Ariel Sharon, the rightist Likud leader.
A less likely outcome would be for the Socialists to form a minority government, backed by the rightist Public Affairs Party and with the tacit support of the Communist party, an unreconstructed Marxist party that won 11.3 percent of the vote.
Right now, Mr. Sharansky is fighting an uphill battle to persuade Prime Minister Ehud Barak to join hands with the rightist Likud Party to form a national unity government.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak opened talks with Ariel Sharon, the rightist opposition leader, on forming a coalition government as Israeli-Palestinian violence continued.
A18 Coalition Negotiations in Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak formally opened talks with Ariel Sharon, the rightist opposition leader, on forming a coalition government, as gun battles with Palestinians erupted again on the edge of Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel formally opened talks today with Ariel Sharon, the rightist opposition leader, on forming a coalition government as gun battles with Palestinians erupted again on the edge of Jerusalem and with no end in sight to the violence.
Mr. Spidla (pronounced SHPID-lah) has already vowed not to form a government with the country's other rightist party, the anti-European Union Civic Democrats, which took 58 seats, or the old-style Communist Party, which won 41.
