Jerusalem  - Israel's president hosted the country's new and outgoing prime ministers Wednesday for a formal changing of the guards that included a red-carpet welcome and the playing of the national anthem.

President Shimon Peres, whose duties are largely ceremonial, was to address the gathering, as was outgoing premier Ehud Olmert and incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose new government was sworn in by the Knesset late Tuesday.

Of the 120 lawmakers in the Israeli parliament, 69 voted confidence in the new government, while 45 voted against. The remaining six abstained, including five Labour Party members who vehemently opposed their leader Ehud Barak's decision to join the Netanyahu coalition. An Arab-Israeli legislator, Ahmed Tibi, also stayed away from the swearing in as a protest against the right- leaning government.

After the hour-long ceremony at Peres' Jerusalem residence, the new cabinet, the 32nd in Israel's 60-year history, is to pose for its traditional photograph with the president.

The Netanyahu government, with as many as 30 ministers and nine deputies, is also the largest and most expensive in Israeli history. Sworn in seven weeks after elections, it is the result of tedious coalition negotiations, with Netanyahu, 59, making every effort to avoid a narrow right-wing government. He succeeded last week in convincing the Labour Party to join, when its Convention voted in favour despite strong opposition within the party caucus.

Apart from Labour, the coalition includes only hardline, ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox religious factions. dpa()