Livni Meets Early Hurdles in Bid to Form New Israeli Government

The Israeli president, Shimon Peres, last night formally gave Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister, 42 days to form a coalition government after the resignation on Sunday of the scandal-hit prime minister Ehud Olmert.

The announcement was made with a brief ceremony and a handshake at the president's official residence in Jerusalem. "I agree to take upon myself the role of forming a government," Livni said.

Livni, 50, who became leader of the ruling Kadima party last week in a narrow internal election victory, has spent the five days since then meeting leaders of political factions she will need to form her government. If she fails to form a coalition in the next six weeks, a general election will probably be held by early next year.

Livni has already run into difficulties. Ehud Barak, the leader of the labor party which had been expected to join a coalition as the second largest party, appears to be hesitating. He delivered a surprise snub to Livni after her election victory by meeting first with the leader of the opposition Likud party, Binyamin Netanyahu, before seeing her on Sunday. Analysts suggest poor relations between Barak and Livni may be to blame.

Shas, a party that represents the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox and which has been part of the ruling coalition for the past two years, has also still not decided whether to join Livni. It will almost certainly demand an increase in child allowances to please its large-family constituency, and will look for guarantees from Livni that she will not divide Jerusalem in peace talks with the Palestinians. Such a guarantee would limit her ability to negotiate the peace agreement she has promised she will continue to seek.