Livni to succeed Israeli PM Ehud Olmert

Tzipi Livni, the newly elected leader of Israel's ruling Kadima party, faced the daunting task yesterday of putting together a government to avert snap elections that could further slow the pace of Middle East peacemaking.
The 50-year-old foreign minister narrowly won a leadership vote to replace scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is standing down to battle a number of corruption allegations.
Livni secured 43.1 percent of the vote against her main rival Transport Minister and former army chief Shaul Mofaz's 42 percent, winning by just 431 votes, the central electoral commission said.
"I will start tomorrow to meet representatives of the other parties in the Knesset to a form a new coalition as quickly as possible in the face of the serious threats," the former Mossad spy said after her victory was confirmed.
Livni, who has been leading US-backed peace negotiations with the Palestinians, will have 42 days to form a government if she hopes to prevent an election that polls say would bring the right-wing Likud party to power.
"I will do my utmost not to disappoint you. I want to do what's best for the country," she said.
The election looks unlikely to end the political turmoil brought on by graft accusations against Olmert, as it remains uncertain whether Livni will be able to form a government and take over the premiership.
And the size of the task ahead was underscored when Eli Yishai, head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party -- which often plays the role of kingmaker -- immediately laid down conditions for joining a Livni government.
He insisted there should be no negotiations on the future of Jerusalem and called for a big rise in family grants, something Livni has up to now rejected.
Olmert congratulated Livni and promised his "full cooperation" after exit polls showed her winning about 48 percent of the vote. Her lead diminished as the vote count continued into the night.
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit and Public Security Minister Avi Dichter got 8.5 and 6 percent of the vote respectively.
The result confirms Livni's meteoric rise to become the most powerful woman in Israel and could now see her follow in the footsteps of Golda Meir, the country's first woman prime minister.
The continuing political turbulence further dims chances of reaching a peace deal by the end of the year, a goal Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had set at a US conference that relaunched talks last November.