Israel: Tzipi Livni Seeks Coalition After Narrowly Winning Kadima Leadership

Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister and newly elected head of the ruling Kadima party, today began trying to form a coalition government that would allow her to take over as prime minister.

At dawn final results were released showing how narrowly she had won the Kadima leadership primary, defeating her closest challenger, Shaul Mofaz, the hawkish transport minister, by 431 votes. Livni took 43.1% of the vote, against 42% for Mofaz. Exit polls had predicted a clear victory for Livni but proved very wide of the mark.

The two other candidates - Avi Dichter, the internal security minister, and Meir Sheetrit, the tourism minister - were a long way behind. About 54% of the 74,000 eligible Kadima members voted.

Livni, 50, a former agent in the Mossad secret service and a lawyer, has about six weeks to form a coalition government around her party. If she succeeds, she will become prime minister, the first woman in the job since 1974. If she fails, general elections will be held by early next year.

After a sleepless night waiting for the final results, Livni emerged from her Tel Aviv home early today to say she wanted to quickly form a coalition. "The national mission ... is to create stability quickly," she said.

Already some of the smaller parties that might expect to be in the coalition have begun laying out their demands, notably among them Shas, which represents ultra-Orthodox voters.

Shas, which has 12 seats in the Knesset, or parliament, is adamantly opposed to any division of Jerusalem, which might complicate Livni's commitment to negotiate a two-state peace agreement with the Palestinians. One of the core issues of any agreement is the future of Jerusalem, which both Israel and the Palestinians claim as a future capital.

"If it becomes clear that Jerusalem is on the negotiating table ... then we won't be part of the coalition," said a Shas spokesman, Roi Lachmanovitch.

Kadima has 29 seats in the 120-seat Knesset and will need Labour's 19 seats, as well as other smaller parties, probably including Shas. Livni has proposed reaching out to the leftwing Meretz party, which has five seats.

The prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is resigning as Kadima leader over corruption investigations but is expected to notify the cabinet on Sunday that he will continue as a caretaker leader until Livni forms her coalition.

The result of the Kadima vote raises questions about Israel's leading polling organizations, which in the weeks before the election and in exit polls 15 minutes before voting ended yesterday predicted Livni would win by a long stretch. "There is a problem here and we have to identify it," said pollster Mina Tzemach from the Dahaf Research Institute.

Kadima was formed three years ago by Ariel Sharon, who as prime minister walked away from the Likud party and took his supporters with him, among them Livni.

Livni has been closely involved in the last year of talks with the Palestinians, acting as Israel's lead negotiator, and is expected to continue the talks if she becomes prime minister. She is regarded as more of a dove than some colleagues.

"I am really happy that Livni won because she is committed to the peace process," said the Israeli peace activist Yossi Beilin.

"I think the right thing for her to do now is to form a coalition that wants to promote peace rather than a broad government with the right."

Palestinian leaders seemed pleased with the result. "Because Livni was immersed in the peace process, we believe she will pursue peace moves with us," said Ahmed Qureia, the chief Palestinian negotiator.

Some Israeli commentators have been unimpressed with the entire contest, talking of a lack of vision. Sima Kadmon, writing in yesterday's Yedioth Ahronoth, said she thought both Livni and Mofaz lacked charisma and leadership ability. "It is not an easy choice. Choosing between Tzipi Livni and Shaul Mofaz is like choosing between two shades of grey."

The election was triggered when Olmert stepped down in the face of a series of high-profile corruption investigations. He may be indicted for corruption in the months ahead.