BICOM

Kadima opposition leader Tzipi Livni is expected to announce the date of Kadima party leadership primaries in a press conference this morning.

Livni’s announcement comes after months of internal party pressure over primaries. The vote is expected to take place at some point between 21 March, after the Knesset goes out of session, and the start of Passover in mid-April.

The two front-runners for the leadership of the party are Livni and former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who Livni beat in the last primary vote by a margin of only a few hundred votes. Other party members expected to compete in the primaries are MKs Avi Dichter and Meir Sheetrit.

Kadima party members have been calling for primaries since the start of the last Knesset winter session. Both the decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call an early vote over leadership of the Likud at the end of January, and talk of bringing the date of the general elections forward, added pressure to move the Kadima date forward. However, according to Israeli Channel 2 News this morning, Livni wanted to set the date for primaries last week but Yair Lapid’s entry into Israeli politics delayed the announcement.

Once the date is set for primaries, tension is expected within Kadima over which body will administer the vote. Several MKs in the past have expressed a lack of faith in the current party-voting infrastructure, which formed under Ariel Sharon strongly favors the incumbent party leader.