Livni: Kadima will sit in the opposition

Despite garnering the support of 65 Knesset members, premiership candidate Benjamin Netanyahu may still find it difficult to form a stable coalition due to Kadima's refusal to join a unity government with the Likud chairman at the helm.

President Shimon Peres is expected to summon Netanyahu and Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni for private meetings as early as Friday, according to a source from the President's Residence.

In the meetings, Peres is expected to stress to the two party leaders the need for the formation of a broad unity government.

During her visit to the Qassam museum in Sderot with US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, Livni said 'I will continue not only to believe in our path, but also to lead it. I do not intend to be a cover for political paralysis."

Livni issued a text message to 80,000 Kadima activists in which she repeated her words to the party's MKs saying: "Today the foundations have been laid for an extreme rightist government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. This is not our path, and there is nothing for us in such a government".

Livni added that, "We were not elected to legitimize an extreme right government and we much be an alternative of hope and go to opposition."

Fellow party member and Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On said that in light of the political situation Kadima should "serve the nation from the opposition."

"Kadima is the only alternative to Netanyahu's extremist government," he said, "I am certain that the next government will reign for the shortest period in Israel's history."

MK Tzachi Hanegbi, also of Kadima, said the party "will not give up on the diplomatic process and will not betray the trust of those who voted for it. We will not be a fifth wheel on a car that is going nowhere. This is another decisive moment in the party's history."

"Kadima member Eli Aflalo added: "Kadima must head for the opposition; this is what Israeli democracy demands."