Kadima court upholds primary vote

Recount possible; Mofaz's attorney to 'Post': Irregularities found in 71 of 115 polling stations.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
livni votes 224 88 (photo credit: AP [file])
livni votes 224 88
(photo credit: AP [file])
If Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz had known how many irregularities existed in the polling stations he might have appealed the result of last week's Kadima leadership primary, Mofaz's attorney, Yehuda Weinstein, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday night. Mofaz lost by 431 votes to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Weinstein spoke with the Post in the aftermath of a hearing regarding those irregularities before Kadima internal court judge Yishai Levit based on an appeal by MK Ze'ev Elkin. Mofaz is not partner to the appeal, but Weinstein was present at the court's request. Levit rejected Elkin's request for a temporary injunction that would have invalidated last week's primary results. He also set a hearing for October 5 to hear arguments regarding Elkin's demand for both a new primary and a recount of the last week's results. Elkin had hoped that Levit would set an immediate date for the hearing, but he said he understood that was difficult to schedule given that one of the judges on the Kadima court was out of the country. His attorney, Zion Amir, told the Post that while Wednesday's rulings were discouraging, he took solace in Levit's remarks, which seemed to indicate that the issues brought before the court were indeed worthy of consideration. Amir told Channel 1 it was possible there would be an investigation into the matter by the police and or the state comptroller once the extent of the voting irregularities were properly understood. Weinstein told the Post there were irregularities in 71 out of 115 polling stations. In some instances, more people voted than there were Kadima members registered at the station. On the night of the primary, Weinstein said, he urged Mofaz to contest the results, but that Mofaz refused for the sake of the public good. But Weinstein said he told the court on Wednesday, "I think that if we had known everything that was revealed to us today, I would not have failed in my mission." The voting irregularities were so wide spread, Weinstein told the Post, that the issue had gone beyond the question of who should lead the party. The issue was not whether Mofaz would win a recount, but rather that any leader of the party, including Livni, needed to know that they were elected as the result of legitimate procedures. But despite the irregularities, Elkin remains is in the minority among Mofaz supporters in contesting the results. Most Mofaz loyalists have concentrated their efforts on insuring he returns to political life as a senior member of the Kadima Party, or even as Livni's second in command, possibly as her foreign minister should she succeed in establishing a government. Some of Mofaz's supporters who heard him announce last Thursday that he planned a break from politics fear that he plans to quit both his post as minister and as an MK. Other have insisted that he meant only that he was taking a vacation. He has not taken any steps to resign, although he did request a vacation until October 2 from Cabinet Secretary Ovad Yehezkel. Mofaz can not actually resign his posts while there is a transition government in place. On Thursday night, his supporters plan to rally in front of his Kochav Yair home to demand his immediate return to work.