JERUSALEM: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni eked out a victory yesterday in a surprisingly tight race to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as head of Israel’s governing party, and said she would immediately turn to the task of trying to build a new government.
Livni, a political moderate, won 43.1 percent of the vote in the Kadima party primary elections, compared with 42 percent for Shaul Mofaz, a hawkish former military chief and defense minister, in a contest with far-reaching implications for peacemaking with the Palestinians and Syria.
The official results were much closer than the double-digit victory predicted by exit polls Wednesday night. “The national responsibility (bestowed) by the public makes me approach this job with great awe,” Livni said shortly after the results were announced.
Livni is Israel’s lead negotiator in peace talks with the Palestinians and a rare female power figure in a nation dominated by macho military men and a religious establishment with strict views on the role of women.
A lawyer and former agent in the Mossad spy agency who entered politics nine years ago, she is eager to continue the low-decibel diplomatic efforts.
She also says she hopes international pressure to halt Iran’s nuclear program will prevail, though she says all options are on the table.
