Poll suggests Livni could lead Kadima to election victory

A recent poll conducted by the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot suggests that if Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni were to replace Prime Minsiter Ehud Olmert as Kadima's leader she would win a future election against Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's Labour party. The poll predicted that with Livni leading Kadima the party would receive 27 seats in the Knesset, as opposed to 23 for Likud and 15 for Israeli Labour. According to the study, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz would garner 17 seats as head of the party and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit would tally only 13.

Also according to the poll, the public considers Livni to be the most appropriate figure in Kadima to replace Olmert should the prime minister resign following the recent investigation being conducted against him on suspicion that he had unlawfully received funds from American businessman Morris Talansky.

Livni is the one minister whose voice has been noticeably absent in support of Olmert in latest day following the opening of the investigation against him, and Livni has also not hinted that she either hopes or believes he will come out of the investigation still standing. Indeed, the day before Barak's comment, a tense-looking Livni, standing next to visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said "The only right thing to do at this stage is to let those investigating and enforcing the law do their work." While saying that she had "full confidence" in the country's law enforcement apparatus, Livni glaringly refrained from saying she had full confidence in her boss.

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