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| Israel's Kadima to elect new head | Israel's Kadima to elect new head |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| Israel's governing Kadima party is due to hold elections to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as leader. | Israel's governing Kadima party is due to hold elections to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as leader. |
| The front-runners to succeed him are Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz. | The front-runners to succeed him are Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz. |
| Mr Olmert, who denies corruption claims, has said he will step down as PM after his successor is chosen. | Mr Olmert, who denies corruption claims, has said he will step down as PM after his successor is chosen. |
| But he may stay on as caretaker prime minister until a new coalition government is formed, which could take weeks or even months. | But he may stay on as caretaker prime minister until a new coalition government is formed, which could take weeks or even months. |
| Ms Livni's supporters hope she will breathe new life into a political establishment mired in sleaze and dominated by ageing, male, former military figures, says the BBC's Heather Sharp in Jerusalem. | Ms Livni's supporters hope she will breathe new life into a political establishment mired in sleaze and dominated by ageing, male, former military figures, says the BBC's Heather Sharp in Jerusalem. |
| But the former Mossad spy is widely criticised for her lack of political experience. | But the former Mossad spy is widely criticised for her lack of political experience. |
| Mr Mofaz, a former army chief of staff who has talked tough on Iran, is seen as further to the right on security, but some say there is little difference between him and the opposition Likud party, our correspondent adds. | |
| KEY DATES Feb 2001: Ariel Sharon elected prime minister Nov 2005: Sharon resigns from Likud and forms KadimaJan 2006: Sharon suffers major stroke, Ehud Olmert becomes caretaker PM March 2006: Kadima wins elections and later forms coalition with Labour May 2007: Report criticises Olmert's handling of war. July 2008: Facing corruption probe, Olmert announces plans to step down class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7616486.stm">Israel's Kadima seeks fresh hope class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7533996.stm">Israeli PM's party leadership rivals class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7613137.stm">Q&A: Israeli leadership change class="" href="/1/hi/world/middle_east/7612715.stm">Israeli fears boost opposition Likud | |
| Some 70,000 members of Kadima, which describes itself as centrist, are eligible to vote. Early results are expected soon after polls close at 2200 local time (1900G). The winner must get more than 40% of the vote to avoid a run-off a week later. | |
| Ms Livni has consistently led in polls, but Mr Mofaz is thought to have a stronger base of influential activists, our correspondent adds. | |
| The vote comes as the US government is continuing its push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before President George W Bush leaves office in January. | |
| Mr Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have been meeting regularly since new dialogue was launched at a peace conference in the US in November 2007. | |
| Core issues to be resolved include the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a Palestinian state, settlements in the West Bank, refugees, security and water resources. | Core issues to be resolved include the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a Palestinian state, settlements in the West Bank, refugees, security and water resources. |
| But there has been little visible progress and it is widely accepted by Israelis and Palestinians that an agreement by January is increasingly unlikely. | But there has been little visible progress and it is widely accepted by Israelis and Palestinians that an agreement by January is increasingly unlikely. |
| On Tuesday Mr Olmert held "serious" talks with Mr Abbas, a spokesman for the outgoing prime minister said, adding that the two men would meet again soon. | |
| Speaking before Tuesday's meeting, Mr Abbas said Palestinians hoped to live side by side with the state of Israel "in security and stability, each side respecting the rights, the borders, the land and the people of the other side". | |
| Although details of the discussion were not disclosed, Mark Regev, Mr Olmert's spokesman, said such meetings would continue as long as Mr Olmert "remains prime minister of Israel, and he does so until a new government is sworn in". | Although details of the discussion were not disclosed, Mark Regev, Mr Olmert's spokesman, said such meetings would continue as long as Mr Olmert "remains prime minister of Israel, and he does so until a new government is sworn in". |