Mofaz Wins Kadima Leadership

Arutz Sheva ^ | 28/3/12 | Elad Benari

[Eleutheria5]

MK Shaul Mofaz was elected on Tuesday to be the new chairman of the Kadima party. Mofaz beat his rival MK Tzipi Livni, who has headed the party since 2008, and will assume the position of opposition leader.

According to final results reported by Army Radio, Mofaz won 64.5 percent of the vote while Livni received only 35.5 percent.

The poll closed at 10:00 p.m. Israel time and as of 9:00 p.m. only about 38 percent of party members exercised their right to vote in the primary. Analysts predicted earlier that a low turnout would likely play out in Mofaz’s favor.

On paper, Kadima is Israel's largest party, having won one more Knesset Member than Likud in the last general elections. Since Livni’s failure to form a coalition government, the party has fallen into disfavor under her leadership, which has been far from inspiring supporters.

Polls have shown that no matter who wins the neck-to-neck leadership contest, the real winner may be Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the nationalist camp. All political surveys indicate that Kadima’s strength in the Knesset would crumble if elections were held today, no matter who heads the party. Labor, the Likud, and a new party headed by Yair Lapid would pick up the crumbs.

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[Eleutheria5]

Tzippi was a clownette. This guy may be the real deal. I might even end up voting for him. Here's his Wiki bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaul_Mofaz

[JerseyHighlander]

Losing all semblance of a difference between Likud and Kadima as the entire rump of the senior Israeli political class were all Sharon cabinet ministers.

For those that don’t know, Mofaz’s orders are what made Caterpillar the boycott target of the Anti-Israel coalition.

[Eleutheria5]

Sounds like a stand-up guy.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

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[rmlew]

Losing all semblance of a difference between Likud and Kadima as the entire rump of the senior Israeli political class were all Sharon cabinet ministers.

The three parties with the most Members of the Knesset, Kadima (28) Likud (27) and Yisrael Beitenu (15), are all officially Revisionist Zionist. However, that is not the fully story. Kadima took the liberal wing of Likud, which included many non Revisionists like Sharon. In theory, the three parties basically agree on free-market economics, are secular nationalists, but disagree on how to make peace with the PAlestinians and what to offer. In practice, personal animosities and politics clouds things.