Leaders of Israel's governing Kadima party plan to meet in as little as a week to decide on an internal ballot that could replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, senior party members said today.
Mr Olmert has so far defied a demand by his main coalition partner, Defence Minister Ehud Barak's left-leaning Labour Party, to leave office over a growing corruption scandal.
Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Kadima's central committee, said today that Kadima delegates would convene a meeting on a leadership ballot after Mr Olmert returns from a visit to the United States at the end of next week.
Party sources said Mr Olmert wants his centrist party to put off any such vote for months, hoping to ride out the police investigation into allegations he accepted envelopes filled with cash from a Jewish-American businessman.
The prime minister has denied wrongdoing but has said he would resign if indicted.
A poll by an Israeli newspaper found Mr Olmert's deputy, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, would win an internal vote to lead their centrist party.
But 60 per cent of Kadima's members believe Mr Olmert does not have to resign at this stage in the investigation, the poll found.
Mr Olmert has adopted a business-as-usual approach and is expected to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as early as Sunday.