World Jewish News

Photo: Gil Cohen Magen / Reuters

Ramon confirms he's speaking with Olmert about a new party

Former Kadima minister Haim Ramon is in discussions with former prime minister Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni about the formation of a new political party, although he said Olmert has not yet made a decision on whether to return to politics, speaking with Army Radio Wednesday morning.
Saying he is speaking with a number of politicians about populating a party list, Mofaz said that the head of the potential party will be chosen based on their chance of replacing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Last week, a source close to Olmert said the former prime minister has not ruled out returning to politics if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decides to advance the next general election, a possibility that was realized Wednesday evening.
"I'm speaking with Olmert, who of course hasn't made his decision ... I'm talking to him," Ramon added.
The potential new party would attempt to form a bloc of parties that would run together, including Kadima, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid.
Ramon discounted Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz as the head of such a bloc, saying "I think Mofaz removed himself from being a possibility" when he joined Netanyahu's coalition.
"As far as I'm concerned, Netanyahu will be replaced," Ramon said, "We won't make the same mistake that Mofaz made."
Olmert was cleared of most of the charges against him in three of four corruption cases, and his conviction for breach of trust is not expected to be a legal obstacle to running.
He is still standing trial on bribery charges in the Holyland scandal, but his lawyers believe the prosecution’s case against him is weak.
“There is a lot of pressure on him to run,” a source close to the former prime minister said.
“He has not decided or taken any steps. But he is very upset at the way Netanyahu has handled relations with the United States and the Iranian and Palestinian issues, and he is concerned about what could happen with four more years of Netanyahu in power.”
Livni last week rebuffed overtures from Shaul Mofaz, who ousted her as chairwoman of Kadima, to rejoin the party.
Earlier last week, Channel 10 reported that Livni met with former Interior Minister and senior Shinui member Avraham Poraz to discuss the possibility of using his Hetz (Arrow) party in the next election.
Poraz founded Hetz in 2006, when he and 10 other MKs broke off from Shinui.
If Livni revives Hetz, she will save herself the bureaucratic headache of registering a new party. In addition, new parties may spend only NIS 13 million on an election campaign, but Livni will be able to increase the budget if she takes over Hetz.

JPost.com