Livni wins Kadima leadership battle

ISRAELI foreign minister Tzipi Livni won a clear majority in the Kadima party’s primary election yesterday, TV exit polls showed — placing her in a good position to become the first female leader in 34 years and sending a message that peace talks with the Palestinians will proceed.

Cheers and applause broke out at party headquarters when Israel’s three TV networks announced their exit polls giving Livni between 47% and 49%, compared with 37% for her closest rival, former defence minister, Shaul Mofaz. Livni supporters hugged each other and shed tears of joy.

Livni needed 40% of the vote to avoid a run-off next week.

If official results bear out the exit polls, as is likely, the 50-year-old Livni will replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as head of Kadima. Olmert, the target of a career-ending corruption probe, had promised to step down as soon as a new Kadima leader was chosen.

Livni will have 42 days to form a new ruling coalition. If she succeeds, she will become Israel’s first female prime minister since Golda Meir. If she fails, the country will then hold elections in early 2009, a year and a half ahead of schedule. Olmert will remain as a caretaker leader until a new coalition is approved by parliament.

Nationally, polls show Livni roughly tied with Benjamin Netanyahu of the hard-line Likud Party. A new nationwide vote would likely turn into a referendum on the current effort to forge a historic peace deal with the Palestinians. A former agent in the Mossad spy agency, and foreign minister since 2006, Livni is Israel’s lead negotiator in the peace talks.