It took place in the wake of national scandal. It was not uncontested, it was not glorious, it was not by the people. It was not even political.

Nevertheless, Shimon Peres finally won an election. He was sworn in on Sunday as Israel's ninth president. Having failed numerous times to be elected prime minister despite frequently heading the Labor Party, having served as prime minister in the wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, and having held virtually all the major posts in numerous Israel governments, the 83-year-old Peres launched into his new ceremonial role with hardly a hesitation. Already, in his acceptance speech, Peres used his new position to overstep the traditional role of the honorific head of state and tried to focus the Israeli people on his lifelong goal to bring peace between Israel and its neighbors.

Like President Ezer Weizman, Israel's seventh president and nephew of the first, Chaim Weizmann, President Peres is prepared to take up the peace agenda having only a national forum and no political platform. His speech Sunday before the Knesset left no doubt for Israelis and all listeners that he intended to fully use his seven-year term to pursue aggressively the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, which eluded him for his entire political life.

The fact that he has no political base may be the very reason that this time Peres may indeed be able to achieve some results. He does not have to worry about re-election, does not feel threatened by the opposition, is accountable to no one, and recognizes that there is no down side to being engaged. He can be a thorn in the side of successive governments without having any political liabilities.

Unlike some of his predecessors, Peres is known throughout the world. He is not an illustrious academic or scholar, but neither is he merely a senior political leader put out to pasture. While accused of being a dreamer, a poet, and an unrealistic politician, Peres has always strived to find the common ground between Israel and its enemies.

What makes Peres, in the twilight of his life, especially well-suited for this role is the fact that he now must answer to no one. He has no political controllers or managers, and he has no party leadership to whom he is beholden. He must answer only to himself and his conscience.

While he will give dignity to the honorary and ceremonial aspects of the position, Peres can be expected to engage and press the Olmert government to pursue peace initiatives more aggressively. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and those prime ministers who will follow him — probably sooner rather than later — will find in Peres an unflinching voice for peace.

President Peres will no longer be able to negotiate with any country directly or speak in the name of any elected Israeli leader, but this will neither constrain him from pressing for negotiations with Syria nor from reaching out to Hamas. The voices for conciliation and peace will have a former Nobel Peace Prize-winner leading their cause — while the more hard-line forces certainly will be infuriated.

Tony Blair, in his new role as "facilitator" for the Middle East Quartet, will undoubtedly use Peres' voice to bounce off the Israeli government ideas that may appear to Blair to be resistant to new overtures (even though Blair, as prime minister himself, would have been enraged if any world political leader had publicly sought out his queen's counsel or if she had even considered offering it). When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates go to the Middle East next month, they may well pay appropriate ceremonial visits on Peres, but they can be assured that the president will not hesitate to exploit these and other opportunities to express his own views on developing events in the region.

In institutional terms, the selection of Peres may ultimately have a curious effect on Israeli politics. It may force Israelis to isolate further the ceremonial president. Or it may create pressure to change the role of the current symbolic head of state. There have been suggestions over the years to change the Israeli political system and make it similar to the American model and less of a parliamentary system, as the French did after the demise of the Fifth French Republic. An actively engaged Peres may indeed encourage such consideration or further drive the office of the Israeli president into the background.

One thing is absolutely clear: Shimon Peres intends to make total use of this platform as he prepares for his extended last bows as the final remaining voice of Israel's generation of founders.