Livni Invited to Form Government
Tzipi Livni has been invited by Ehud Olmert to form a new government. The request came after Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister and leader of the Kadima Party, asked to resign from office. It is claimed that he had been involved in several financial scandals. Livni is now the leader of the Kadima Party, the largest political party in Israel. She has been asked to form a coalition (to fill 61 seats in the 120 seat Knesset) within the next forty-two days. She has already begun to establish a cabinet into which she has invited Likud party leader Binyamin Netanyahu; he has not yet accepted or refused. The news report stresses that if she succeeds in building a successful administration, then she will be the leader until the election in 2010. Olmert has accepted a caretaker role as Prime Minister until Livni is done forming the new governmental platform. Though there are several parties that reject the idea that Livni will form a stable government, she has been proactive in asking major parties such a the Labour Party to form a partnership with Kadima.
Roopa Radhakrishnan
