Opposition leader and Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni announces March 27 as date for party primaries, months ahead of schedule . Livni has been under increasing pressure from her party rivals to set a date for the vote.
Opposition leader and Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni on Wednesday announced that primary elections for the party's leadership would be held on March 27, months ahead of schedule.
National polls have shown that support for the centrist party is shrinking dramatically, and Livni has been under increasing pressure from her rivals in Kadima to move up the primaries and set a date for the vote. Three rivals, including MKs Shaul Mofaz, Avi Dichter and Meir Sheetrit, are likely to compete against her.
Kadima governed Israel from 2006 to early 2009. It won the most votes in Israel's 2009 national elections, but Livni could not find enough like-minded partners to form a governing coalition. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party subsequently put together the most hawkish government in Israel's history.
National elections, meanwhile, are scheduled for late 2013, but may also be moved up.
Party members say Livni is fully confident of her re-election prospects. As party leader, only Livni can set the date for primary elections. Over the past several weeks she has been under intense pressure to call early primaries, spurred by Likud's decision to push up its own primaries to January.
Mofaz, the former defense minister who lost to Livni by a razor-thin margin in the 2008 leadership contest and has been one of her fiercest opponents during her more than three-year tenure at the helm, has been pushing hard to have the primaries moved up. With growing infighting and with Mofaz gaining popularity among party ranks, last week Livni acquiesced and said she would announce a date for the vote within days.
The party has also been embroiled in a corruption scandal involving possible misuse of public funds. Livni has repeatedly denied any knowledge of wrongdoing and even filed a police complaint with the police against the now-fired party treasurer, whom she claims embezzled from the party coffers and falsified financial records.
The party was abuzz with rumors on Monday that Livni's stonewalling about setting a date stemmed from an imminent maneuver to split the party and form a new Kadima faction comprising 15 party members, the threshold needed to maintain the party's official name and institutions. This rumor, which surfaced one week after Livni tentatively agreed to hold primaries without setting a date, would effectively eliminate her main rivals from the party and nip the challenge to her leadership in the bud.
Livni's detractors say that the alleged scheme has unraveled since she failed to garner the necessary support of at least 15 members, as Knesset rules dictate. MKs close to Livni have called the rumors utterly false.
