Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid announced on Sunday that he had offered former
Kadima leader Tzipi Livni the No. 2 position on his party’s list for the
Knesset.
Lapid, who had previously ruled out including experienced
politicians on his list, said he had spoken with Livni a number of times in the
last few days. He said that if she accepted the second slot she would be a full
partner with him on all key decisions.
“Splitting the center bloc is not
good for Israel,” Lapid wrote on Facebook. “I call on her to come, join hands
and forces, and change the country together.”
Channel 2 reported that in
late-night talks Saturday night, Lapid had offered Livni the position of the
party’s candidate for prime minister but he refused to relinquish the top slot
on the list.
Reports in recent days have indicated that Livni would be
announcing the founding of her own party, which would be likely to take away
votes from Lapid as well as from the Labor Party.
Labor Party leader
Shelly Yacimovich has also offered Livni the second slot on her list, as well as
a top ministry and authority over the peace process should the party form or
join the coalition.
Livni reportedly asked for a rotation in the Prime
Minister’s Office, the same demand that prevented her from forming a
national-unity government with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu when she headed
Kadima.
“Even if Livni runs independently, we will maintain impressive
support,” Labor MK Isaac Herzog said. “To provide a real alternative, you need
to join forces. There is no other way.”
Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On
mocked her counterparts in Labor and Yesh Atid for competing over
Livni.
“I didn’t offer Livni the second slot on my list because she does
not fit ideologically,” she said.
Livni postponed a meeting with former
prime minister Ehud Olmert that had been set for Sunday because she did not feel
well and had lost her voice.
Olmert was expected to tell Livni that he
intended to sit out the January 22 election, while she intended to tell him that
she would run.
Olmert’s spokesman could not confirm a Channel 10 report
that Olmert was considering still forming a “surprising list” by
midweek.
Barring last-minute developments, Livni will announce the
formation of a new party on Tuesday that would be made up of Kadima MKs and
wellknown and respected public figures.
Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz’s
associates revealed that he had offered Olmert the chairmanship of the party’s
new selection committee that would decide its list for the next Knesset.