World

Israel elects new leader

by Sanjay Jha | September 18, 2008 at 12:15 am

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Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won a Kadima Party vote on Wednesday to replace beleaguered Ehud Olmert, putting her on track to succeed the scandal-plagued prime minister as head of the government. Official reults have not been declared but exit polls shows that she is leading with at least 10 points over her main opponent, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, giving her a clear victory. Livni has been leading US-backed negotiations with the Palestinians, would get 42 days to form a government if she hopes to avert snap elections that polls say would bring the right-wing Likud Party to power.

Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, won a narrow election victory today to become the leader of the ruling Kadima party, putting her on track to become the country's first female prime minister in more than 30 years.

Final results released by Kadima early today put Livni on 43.1%, only just ahead of her closest rival, Shaul Mofaz, the hawkish transport minister and former army chief, who was on 42%. Exit polls had put Livni ahead by 10 points, but they appeared to have been wide of the mark. In the end her margin of victory was just 431 votes.

Livni, a former Mossad agent and lawyer, now has six weeks to put together a coalition government. If she succeeds she will become Israel's first female prime minister since Golda Meir resigned in 1974. If she fails, general elections will be held within three months.

At dawn, Livni spoke to reporters outside her Tel Aviv home. "On the level of government in Israel, we have to deal with difficult threats. The national mission ... is to create stability quickly," she said, adding: "There is economic instability." She said she would work now to form a coalition.

"Tomorrow, I will begin meeting with representatives of the factions in order to form quickly a coalition that can deal with all of these challenges that lie ahead," she said.