By KUNA,
Gaza : Kadima is holding its first-ever primary elections Wednesday to select the replacement for outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the third person to chair the party since it was founded by former prime minister Ariel Sharon three years ago, said the Haaretz.
The newspaper said the four leading candidates are Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit.
Livni and Mofaz are each hoping to obtain a decisive 40-percent share of the vote in the first round, it added.
According to the newspaper, Kadima has 73,000 members eligible to vote in the primaries, an estimated 50 percent of whom are expected to exercise that right.
A poll conducted Monday by Haaretz-Dialog and Channel 10 had Livni taking 47 percent of the vote and Mofaz 28 percent, while Sheetrit and Dichter each received six percent.
If any of the candidates receives the necessary number of votes in Wednesday’s round, Olmert is expected to file his resignation with President Shimon Peres before the beginning of next week, it said.
Olmert’s replacement will then reach out to the various Knesset coalitions and opposition representatives in an effort to form an alternative government. If such efforts fail, national elections will be held, most likely in March 2009.