Israel's Ruling Party Elects New Leader

JERUSALEM, Sept 17, 2008 — -- At lunchtime Wednesday Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert helped vote himself out of a job, and by Thursday morning the country's foreign minister declared victory in a tight race to replace him as the head of the country's governing party

Olmert and 70,000 registered members of the Kadima political party cast votes for a new leader, and and the winner of that election is Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

For an outright victory, Livni needed 40 percent of the vote. Official results showed Livni winning over her nearest rival, former defense minister and military chief Shaul Mofaz, by a 1.1 percentage point margin in the Kadima Party primary elections — a far narrower victory than the double-digit romp polls had predicted.

Livni, a political moderate, barely edged out hawkish rival Mofaz, a former defense minister, in a contest that could have far-reaching implications for peacemaking with the Palestinians and Syria.

Livni said she would launch coalition talks on Friday, even though President Shimon Peres cannot officially ask her to try to put together a government until Olmert resigns the premiership.

Olmert was forced into this act of political suicide by the weight of the corruption allegations against him. Israeli police recently submitted a file of evidence to the country's attorney general recommending charges against Olmert in at least two cases.

Livni will take over the Kadima Party and then try to form a coalition government from the complex patchwork of parties and factions that make up the Israeli parliament, or Knesset. Only then will she be confirmed as the next prime minister.

There was no great enthusiasm in the country for either candidate, it seemed.

One of Israel's leading political columnists commented Wednesday, "It is not an easy choice. Choosing between Tzipi Livni and Shaul Mofaz is like choosing between two shades of gray. These candidates do not have charisma, vision or leadership ability."

In an interview with ABC News, Gideon Doron, a professor at Tel Aviv University, was equally pessimistic about the two leading candidates: "They don't have the experience and I don't know if they know how to compromise."

Livni ran on a ticket of clean government -- an attempt to tap into the growing public disgust with corruption in Israeli politics.

Mofaz is a former soldier and was defense minister under Ariel Sharon. He played the well-worn security card.