Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, bolstered by polls showing his new breakaway party will win early elections, sparred with parliament over when to schedule the vote and how much power he can retain in the interim.

President Moshe Katsav, whom Sharon asked yesterday to dissolve the Knesset, told lawmakers he would defer to their decision to disperse the 120-seat parliament if they let Sharon appoint ministers to conduct government business over the next three months, a presidential spokeswoman said.

``He would like to give the Knesset a chance before he takes action,'' the spokeswoman, Hagit Cohen, said in a phone interview from Jerusalem. ``He doesn't want the government to stop functioning until the campaign is over.''

Sharon, 77, is building a new political organization after determining that dissension in the Likud Party, which he helped found in 1973, won't allow him to advance an agenda that includes more territorial concessions in peace talks with the Palestinians. Those left in Likud, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are trying to limit Sharon's ability to fill his Cabinet with loyalists before the election.

Sharon and parliament are also dueling over the date for the elections, which the prime minister wants to schedule for early March and lawmakers are trying to set for March 28 so that Sharon's momentum slows over time.

`Tyranny'

Netanyahu, who resigned as Sharon's finance minister in August to protest the government's decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, lashed out at Sharon in an interview with Army Radio, giving an indication of how bitter the campaign will be.

``How important is it if the dictator has this kind of smile or that kind of sense of humor if he's bringing you to tyranny, if he's bring you to corruption and he's endangering your security,'' Netanyahu said, referring to Sharon.

Polls in Israel's three biggest newspapers showed Sharon's new National Responsibility Party capturing at least a quarter of the seats in parliament, putting him in position to assemble a stable coalition after the elections.

The new party will win as many as 33 Knesset spots, followed by 26 for the Labor Party, a survey of 701 Israelis by pollster Mina Tzemach said. Likud, which has 40 seats in the current parliament, would fall to 12, according to the poll, which was published in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

Sharon's Lead

Polls published in Haaretz and Maariv newspapers both showed Sharon's new party winning 30 seats, compared with 26 for Labor and 15 for Likud.

The prime minister's decision to leave the Likud won the approval of 55 percent of the public, while 25 percent called it a mistake and 20 percent didn't answer, according to the Yediot poll, which had an 8 percentage-point margin of error.

Sharon's move to leave the Likud drew praise from the Palestinians and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who helped mediate security issues surrounding the Gaza pullout.

``There is an opportunity for the peace process now,'' Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Shaath said in a telephone interview. ``I'm optimistic.''

Mubarak telephoned Sharon today ``to express his support for the prime minister and wish him success in the new path that he has chosen,'' Sharon's office said in an e-mailed statement.

Mubarak said he is ``interested in continuing to work closely with Prime Minister Sharon in order to achieve a better future and advance peace in the region,'' the statement said.

Central Tenet

Sharon said at a press conference yesterday that his new party's central tenet will be adherence to the so-called road-map plan for Middle East peace that U.S. President George W. Bush introduced in 2003 with the backing of Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

While saying that he would not carry out another ``disengagement'' on the West Bank, referring to the unilateral pullout from Gaza in which Israel set the terms itself and didn't negotiate them with the Palestinians, Sharon said the country would have to make ``painful compromises'' in the territory for future peace talks to succeed.

``Disengagement gave us an historic opportunity, and I do not intend to allow anyone to squander it,'' Sharon said.

While Katsav considered Sharon's request to dissolve the Knesset, lawmakers voted by an 80-1 margin in favor of eight separate bills to bring the parliamentary term to an end. The legislation must be passed two more times to take effect.

If Katsav dissolves parliament, Sharon will have the power to appoint ministers to fill the spots of cabinet members who resigned, Cohen said. Letting the Knesset manage the process will allow lawmakers to block the prime minister's appointments during the caretaker period, she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Ferziger in Tel Aviv at jferziger@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 22, 2005 09:35 EST