Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday he would support Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres for president to replace Ezer Weizman.

“I am convinced that the right man to be the next president of the country is our friend Shimon Peres,” Barak said, despite expectations in some political circles the two could clash over peace moves. Army Radio said that Peres had accepted the candidacy for presidency from the Labour Party. “Mainly, my priority will be national unity. Just as I devoted myself to other things, this time I will devote myself to mediation between the different sectors,” Peres said in remarks on Israel Radio. “I believe that what happened in the past year, since Ehud was elected prime minister, is that internal differences narrowed, really narrowed, and there is a real chance to unify the nation ... and that will be my main occupation.” Weizman, threatened with impeachment over a gift-taking scandal, will resign from the largely ceremonial job on July 10, three years before the end of his term. Officials said the 120-member parliament could elect a replacement on July 31. Peres’s likely opponent is former right-wing Likud party cabinet minister Moshe Katzav.