Livni narrowly wins party vote, eyes Israel PM job
18 Sep 2008 02:57:02 GMT Source: Reuters
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Ari Rabinovitch TEL AVIV, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni secured a narrow victory on Thursday in a party leadership contest that sets her on course to succeed the scandal-crippled Ehud Olmert as prime minister in the coming weeks. But after a tense night of counting following exit polls that showed Livni cruising to a big win, Israel Radio said the final margin over Shaul Mofaz, a former general who is now transport minister, was just over one percentage point. The final result was a relief to Livni, a 50-year-old lawyer, who had declared victory to supporters hours earlier. "The good guys won," Livni, a one-time Mossad intelligence agent told her backers within the ruling centrist Kadima party. Israel Radio quoted a Kadima statement giving the final result as Livni on 43.1 percent to Mofaz's 42.0 percent, a huge swing from the 10- to 12-point margins shown in exit polls. Two other candidates trailed well behind. Palestinian peace negotiators -- and possibly the sponsors of the peace process in Washington -- were among those applauding as early counts from local offices seemed to confirm a win for Livni, who is leading talks with the Palestinians. But the daughter of storied Zionist guerrilla fighters of the 1940s will require combative spirit and political flair to consolidate her goal of becoming Israel's first woman leader since the redoubtable Golda Meir in the 1970s. Olmert, who telephoned Livni with congratulations, has said he will resign as soon as Kadima has a new leader. But the outgoing premier, who could be indicted for corruption, has also vowed to exercise his right to stay on in a caretaker capacity until Livni forges her own, new coalition government. That process, involving deals with ambitious Labour party leader Ehud Barak on the left and influential Jewish religious parties on the right, could take weeks or months. Many believe there may yet be an early parliamentary election, which polls show Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud would win.
Palestinian farmer Farouk Fuqha plants eggplant seedlings in his field in the West Bank village of Bardala in the northern Jordan Valley September 15, 2008. Israel and the occupied West Bank ...
