Forming Governing Coalition: What Livni Faces

September 18, 2008

By winning the Kadima primary contest on September 17, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni became the leader of the Kadima party. President Shimon Peres will now most likely ask Livni to form a government within 28 days, with a potential 14-day extension. If she is able to form a coalition, Livni will serve as prime minister for the remainder of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s term. If she is unable to form a coalition, Peres may ask another party chair to form a coalition within 28 days. In the event that this fails as well, the Knesset must enter into new general elections within 90 days. Olmert will remain as acting prime minister until a new government is formed.

To form a coalition, Livni now faces the challenge of compromising with existing parties in the Knesset. She faces the following landscape:

Kadima: 29 seats – anchor party of the coalition
Head: Tzipi Livni
Main concerns:
• Intends to continue negotiations toward a two-state solution with the Palestinians based on the 2003 Road Map peace plan and the Annapolis process
• Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon left Likud in 2005 and formed the centrist Kadima party, bringing with him prominent officials from both the left and right of the political spectrum

Labor-Meimad: 19 seats – part of Olmert governing coalition
Head: Ehud Barak
Main concerns:
• Favors two-state solution
• Supports an end to settlement construction and evacuation of unauthorized outposts
• Previously expressed interest in replacing the Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, who seeks to drastically cut the powers of Israel’s High Court
•Barak likely wants to retain his post as defense minister; his party will also want to retain the Education ministry; they may be willing to cede ground on demands for the Justice portfolio

Likud: 12 seats
Head: Benjamin Netanyahu
Main concerns:
• Its platform calls for the “wholeness of the homeland,” yet Netanyahu signed Wye River Accord and other agreements with Palestinians when he was prime minister
• Opposes Jerusalem as a shared capital for both Israelis and Palestinians

Shas: 12 seats – in Olmert’s coalition
Head: Eli Yishai
Main concerns:
• Demands clear and open stances on negotiations with Palestinians and opposes negotiating core issues, particularly the red line issue of Jerusalem
• Seeks increased financial support for its religious education and social welfare systems, including the issue of increasing child allowances, and increased construction in West Bank settlements
• Following Livni’s victory, Yishai said that Livni must agree to Shas demands for the party to join the coalition

Yisrael Beiteinu: 11 seats – left Olmert coalition in January 2008 over negotiations with the Palestinians
Head: Avigdor Lieberman
Main concerns:
• Supports transferring Arab Israelis from Israel to Palestinian control, without their consent
• Refuses to discuss the core issues

National Union – National Religious Party: 9 seats
Head: Benny Elon
Main concerns:
• Opposes Jerusalem as a shared capital for both Israelis and Palestinians and supports settlement expansion
• Does not believe PA is legitimate and advocates annulment of Oslo Accords

United Torah Judaism (UTJ): 6 seats – Olmert tried unsuccessfully to get UTJ into his coalition in early 2008
Head: Yakov Litzman
Main concerns:
• Combines Hasidic, non-Zionist Agudat Israel and Lithuanian, ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah parties
• Believes, according to divine right, that Israel belongs to the Jewish people
• Disapproves of all labor and commerce on Shabbat; doesn’t recognize non-Orthodox Jewish movements

Meretz-Yahad: 5 seats – Meretz previously refused to join a coalition government that included Yisrael Beiteinu
Head: Haim Oron
Main concerns:
• Supports an end to settlement activity and a withdrawal from the West Bank
• Advocates negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, including on the issue of Jerusalem

Gil Pensioners Party: 4 seats – part of Olmert’s coalition
Head: Yitzhak Galanti
Main concerns:
• Advocates for financial support of the elderly

United Arab List: 4 seats
Chair: Ibrahim Sarsur
Main concerns:
• Supports the creation of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital
• Calls for the recognition of the Arab minority and demands more rights

Hadash: 3 seats
Head: Mohammad Barakeh
Main concerns:
• Based on Israel’s Communist Party
• Advocates for peace with the Palestinians and Arab states, while also encouraging equal rights for Israel’s Arab population
• Calls for Israel’s withdrawal to pre-1967 borders

Justice for the Elderly: 3 seats
Head: Moshe Sharoni
Main concerns:
• Splinter of Gil Pensioners Party
• Advocates for additional support for the elderly

National Democratic Assembly: 3 seats
Head: Jamal Zahalka
Main concerns:
• Seeks the complete separation of religion and state in Israel
• Supports a fair resolution to the Palestinian question, and the provision of equal rights to Israel’s Arab population



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