JERUSALEM, Jan. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Former Labor head Shimon Peres Sunday resigned from the Knesset (parliament) to prepare for the plenum as a Kadima member following the March 28 elections and a minister in the next government.

    Peres sent his letter of resignation to Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin. His resignation will take effect in 48 hours. The resignation was expected after Attorney General Menahem Mazuz said on Sunday that Peres could not serve as minister at present because he was not Kadima member of the parliament. The Basic Law on The Government stipulates that Knesset members who quit one faction without resigning from the Knesset can not serve as ministers of another faction prior to new elections. Following Peres' announcement, two other Labor parliamentarians who joined Kadima, Haim Ramon and Dalia Itzik, are also expected to resign from the Knesset.

    The three did not officially quit Labor -- a move that could have prevented them from vying on the Kadima list in the upcoming elections.

    Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had considered appointing Ramon as interior minister, a post he held in the past. After resignation letters of four outgoing Likud ministers take effect on Monday, Olmert will hold 15 ministerial positions. Never before in the state's history has a prime minister held so many ministerial portfolios.

    Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said Saturday that it is likely that the government will hold an additional cabinet meeting this week to approve appointments of additional ministers, in light of the fact that only seven ministers currently remain in the government.

    Meanwhile, Mazuz told Olmert on Sunday that he will continue to hold the title of acting prime minister till the elections. Mazuz has decided to continue defining status of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as temporarily incapacitated, rather than declare him permanently incapacitated.

    The prime minister remains unconscious and is not showing any sign that he is regaining consciousness, although doctors have been trying to get him out of a medically induced coma since Monday. They have been gradually lessening dosage of sedatives he has been receiving in the wake of a massive stroke on Jan. 4. Enditem