Likud chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Kadima chairwoman and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni for an hour today, but it remains an open question whether they will sit at the same cabinet table. An answer may emerge tomorrow.
On Friday, President Shimon Peres gave Netanyahu the responsibility for forming a new government, even though the Likud won one less Knesset seat than Kadima in the February 10 elections.
Netanyahu has invited Livni to a meeting, where he will seek to soften the hard-line stance that Livni presented against joining a government he heads. The results of their meeting could decide the shape of the next government.
The difficulties facing the Likud and Kadima as coalition partners are well-known, especially as both parties presented their leaders as clear alternatives during the election campaign: Netanyahu or Livni.
Netanyahu has the greater interest in bringing Kadima into a coalition, because without it, he will have a right-wing coalition with 65 Knesset seats, but only a shaky hold on retaining power. Livni, for her part, prefers going into the opposition, where she can wait for the Netanyahu to fall, hopefully quickly, giving her the opportunity to replace him, rather than to serve under him.
For now, Livni is signaling that she strongly opposes joining a Netanyahu government. Despite a slew of suggestions of equality between the Likud and Kadima in terms of portfolios, the title of deputy prime minister for Livni, and giving Kadima the post of Speaker of the Knesset. Livni, however, is apparently still waiting for something else.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 22, 2009
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