The former Israeli defence minister Shaul Mofaz today won the endorsement of a close ally of prime minister Ehud Olmert in the race to replace the premier that pits him against the foreign minister Tzipi Livni. "I will support the candidacy of Shaul Mofaz because he is the best candidate to lead the party and the state," the housing minister Zeev Boim told journalists. Mr Olmert, who is facing multiple corruption investigations, announced on July 30 he would step down when the centrist Kadima party elects a new leader in a mid-September primary election.
Mr Mofaz and Ms Livni are seen as the front-runners in the race for the party leadership, in which the public security Minister Avi Dichter and the interior minister Meir Sheetrit are also expected to compete. Ms Livni last week won the support of the finance minister Roni Bar-On, who is also close to Mr Olmert. The winner of the vote will be formally asked by the Israeli president Shimon Peres to form a government, although analysts say the new Kadima leader might find it impossible to form a strong enough coalition.
That would force a general election, and opinion polls indicate that the right wing Likud leader and former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who has called for snap elections, is the favourite to take over the helm of government. Israelis are not scheduled to go to the polls until 2010. *AFP
