End of the road for Olmert? Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
will not be running in the Kadima leadership primaries, a senior party official estimated late Wednesday.
According to sources in the party, including some who are closely associated with the prime minister, in the coming weeks Olmert will attempt to come up with a way to quit his post in a dignified manner and possibly retire from politics altogether.
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Earlier Wednesday, agreement was reached on holding the Kadima primaries in September. Top Kadima officials said that the uncertainty conveyed by Olmert regarding his intention to run in the primaries stems from his desire to leave his post in a dignified manner.
According to the agreement reached Wednesday, the Kadima primaries will be held between September 14-18, and the candidate who wins the vote will be the party's premiership candidate in the next general elections. This arrangement was formulated by MK Tzachi Hanegbi, who heads Kadima's party affairs committee, in conjunction with the party's leadership candidates.
On Thursday, Hanegbi will submit a proposal for amending the party's charter in a manner that incorporates the primaries arrangement. In addition, he will submit the recent agreement with the Labor Party to Kadima's approval. The agreement will enable the current coalition to stay in place.
Hanegbi told Ynet that in all matters pertaining to setting up an alternative government in the current Knesset, "the law dictates the procedure for forming a government. We have no reason to deal with this."
Hanegbi has been active in recent days in an effort to amend Kadima's charter in a way that will allow for the primaries to go ahead. Now he has apparently been able to secure the go-ahead of all party leadership candidates for an agreed-upon procedure.
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