Ehud Olmert
Photo: Reuters
Tzipi Livni
Photo: Jacques Goaz, AFP
Shaul Mofaz
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Kadima begins assigning portfolios
Encouraged by polls, Kadima drafts list of ministerial appointments over a week before elections, giving all top posts to party members
Although ballots do not open for another week, Kadima is already drafting its list of political appointments for the likely case that Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be putting together the next cabinet. The list, so far, is as follows:
Kadima, according to polls, is expected to earn a roughly equivalent number of seats. The party will have 13 ministers according to the equation by which three mandates equal one minister. If four seats will equal one minister, Kadima is expected to have ten ministers, excluding Olmert, and Labor five ministers.
Tzipi Livni: Foreign minister
Shaul Mofaz: Defense minister
Avi Dichter: Internal security minister
Shimon Peres: Negev, Galil and regional development minister
Avraham Hirchson: finance minister
Ronnie Bar-On: Infrastructure minister
Meir Sheetrit: Transportation minister
Uriel Reichman: Education minister
Livni will also be appointed vice premier, and Haim Ramon is expected to be assigned a portfolio as well.
Olmert’s associates noted Monday that in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government, when the Likud had 40 Knesset seats, Likud members held all chief positions in the coalition, including the foreign, finance, education and defense portfolios.
Labor Party
Attila Somfalvi
(VIDEO) Labor Party chairman furious over rumors on coalition talks between his party and Kadima; behind Peretz's back, however, Labor members talking about possible portfolios in future government
The remaining ministries, including health, science and technology, communications, agriculture, construction and housing, absorption, religious affairs and ministerial positions in the prime minister’s office, which were held by Tzachi Hanegbi and Haim Ramon in the previous term, will be open for coalition negotiations.
Other positions, such as ambassadorships in the United States, Great Britain and France, are also negotiable.
In the meantime, Kadima is insisting on holding all central portfolios – foreign, defense, finance and education. However, if Labor enters the coalition with 20 or more seats, the party will likely fight for one of these posts.
Senior Kadima and Labor members are holding quiet talks these days and reportedly haven’t reached any agreements. Labor’s demand for the finance or education portfolio, trade and labor portfolio or the vice premiership have been turned down. Labor, however, adamantly denies contacts have taken place at all.
Who’ll return their portfolio?
Kadima’s candidate for prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has not yet finalized the list. The above list is far from final, as pressures will be applied from many sides when the coalition is being assembled. If a coalition is assembled with Labor, Meretz and the ultra-Orthodox parties, one Kadima ministerial candidate will have to give up one of the coveted positions.
The composition of parliament is also expected to be an arena for arguments over appointments. If Kadima wins the elections, Ze'ev Boim or Daliah Itzik are candidates for Knesset chairmanship. However, Boim, who currently serves as housing and agriculture minister, is also a candidate for one of the operational ministries.
Kadima has three more candidates for top positions: Ministers Jacob Edery and Gideon Ezra and Deputy Minister Marina Solodkin. Other coveted positions are chairmanship of the Knesset Committee and the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
As important are the appointments within the Prime Minister’s Office. Three top posts are likely to carry over from Sharon’s government: Yisrael Maimon as cabinet secretary, Ilan Cohen as PMO director-general and Assi Shariv as media advisor, for at least a few months until the positions are replaced by Olmert’s associates.
Candidates from Olmert’s inner circle are Raanan Dinor as director general and Shula Zaken as secretary. A media advisor has not yet been chosen, although Hagai Elias, Olmert’s current media advisor, was suggested as a possible candidate.
